Love is All That Is

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In the center of our chest, just above the heart, is the soul center that has also been called the Cave of the Heart, the High Heart, the Heart of the Soul, and the Spiritual Heart center. Here, we experience the indwelling presence of God as Love, a love that is universal, One with All That Is. When this soul center opens, we realize God is Love, Love is All That Is, and I AM That.

The sense of oneness and the experience of love are one and the same; the term Love~Oneness expresses the unity of the two. Everything is healed and made whole in love. Fragmented, denied aspects of the psyche are brought back into our totality, reincorporated into the soul when brought into this heart of Oneness.
 

As we embody Love~Oneness, the defenses of the ego begin to melt more rapidly. Relationships heal as we feel the underlying unity that is the basis of our communion with all seemingly-other beings. This is felt in a deeper domain than the non-dual realization in which the mind perceives the oneness. Here, the realization enters the realm of feeling, which expands intimacy, warmth, and the deep connection with all of life.

As the heart soul center opens, it becomes increasingly clear that the fabric that unites everything is love -- God’s most essential nature.  When everything is known to be held and based in love -- however distorted outer appearances may seem -- the capacity to embrace What Is with an encompassing and transforming love becomes second nature.
 
Love and bliss flower as the heat soul center opens, and these divine qualities may be experienced as inherent to our true nature, not states that need to be sought or acquired externally. Great peace may accompany the realization that all that once seemed to prevent joy and happiness is simply not based in reality.  

As the heart soul center opens, the more deeply-nested soul lotus also flowers. Deeper than the experience of divine love and oneness is the ineffable yet palpable divine presence of the soul, the essence of the One. The unfoldment of the soul lotus and the pouring forth of the divine essence ultimately result in the full realization of our true nature, which includes and transcends the other dimensions of being unfolded through the three soul centers. Within the soul lotus, we merge with the “ground of being,” that which encompasses the absolute and transcendental as well as the imminent and physical. This is the final stage of the journey, and continues to ripen as the other dimensions awaken.
   

Oh lovers, lovers, it is time
To set out from the world…
Beneath this water-wheel of stars
Your sleep has been heavy.
Observe that heaviness and beware
For life is fragile and quick.
Heart, aim yourself at Love!
Friend, discover the Friend!
Watchman, Wake up! You weren’t put here to sleep!

Rumi
translated by Coleman Barks