V is for Venus: Love is All You Need

"The Birth of Venus" by William Adolphe Bourgereau, oil on canvas, 1879, image in the public domain

Love:  It’s a simple four letter word, the source of much pain and pleasure, often seems to sneak up and take us by surprise, can break or melt our hearts, and is the inspiration for music, movies, literature and art all over the world.

“There’s nothing you can know that isn’t known.
Nothing you can see that isn’t shown.
Nowhere you can be that isn’t where you’re meant to be.
It’s easy.
All you need is love, all you need is love,
All you need is love, love, love is all you need.”

~  The Beatles, Lyrics “All You Need is Love”

I think the Beatles were on to something back in the sixties.  Love (not the mushy, romantic kind – although this can be fun sometimes) really is all you need!  Find your inner Venus (irrespective of whether you’re male or female) and see how love blossoms in your life.   

Venus is the Roman goddess of love, beauty and fertility.  She is the equivalent of the Greek goddess Aphrodite who was also considered a goddess of love, beauty, and sexuality.  In ancient times women were revered and feminine qualities such as beauty, love, sexuality, and motherhood were honored.  Nowadays this is not always the case, especially in western culture where male traits such as power, achievement, aggressiveness etc. are mainly celebrated.  Embrace your feminine side and begin to experience love in all aspects of your life and see how it just blossoms.

Fall in Love with Yourself First

Before you can really understand love or truly love another person, you must love yourself first!  When I say ”love yourself” I don’t mean being narcissistic, self-centered, or an ego maniac.  What I’m talking about is a healthy self-respect, self-esteem, and unconditional acceptance of your true self.   Spend a few minutes every day with a deep sense of love for yourself.  It might seem strange at first, but really – think about it – we are each unique individuals and truly one of a kind!  Now that is something worth loving!

Be Passionate and Love Your Life

Especially as an artist it is important to be passionate about your art and your life.  If you are only lukewarm with either, it will easily show through.  When you are passionate about something, you tend to be intense and fully present in the moment.  This is a form of meditation in itself.

“If you are a painter, just be completely in love with painting.  If you are a dancer, be completely in love with dancing. …If you are painting and at the same time thinking about which gallery to put up the painting in or how much to sell it for, then be very clear, you are not lost in love.  …If you become lost in every moment, you become love.  Then, when you work you work with the utmost focus because you are in deep love with it.  This way, your very life becomes a deep meditative love.”

   ~  Paramahamsa Nithyananda

Whether you’re an artist or not, get passionate about your life.  If you don’t feel like you love your life or have anything that stirs your blood, get clear about what you do like, and then pursue it.  The more you do this, the more you fall in love with life, and it is a virtuous cycle.

Love Others

Most of us are in some type of relationship with others, whether it’s a spouse/partner and/or children at home, a room-mate, colleagues at work, friends etc.   We are social creatures and thrive on relating with others.  Often relationships start out with lust or love, and then disintegrate into anger, bitterness, or the flip side of love – hate.  This is because most relationships are based on love that is conditional.  When this is the case, if the conditions remain the same, love remains the same.  However when the conditions change, then the love also changes.  Can this really be described as love?

Think about all the great “romances” or love stories such as Romeo and Juliet or Laila and Majnun.  These lovers never succeeded in being together – perhaps that is why they remain such a fantasy for most people.  In real life when people do get together on a permanent basis that is usually when the trouble begins.  As long as you keep your distance the fantasy of perfect love remains alive.  When you live with another person, the fantasies drop and generally we take the other person for granted.  Sometimes we may even (consciously or unconsciously) try to control the other person.  This constricts and limits both and chokes the love out of the relationship.

To really love others, don’t really expect anything in return from them.  Also don’t be possessive and let the other person be who they really are.  When real love is present in a relationship, you don’t have to express it in words, your body language will be enough.

Divine Love

“Your task is not to seek for love,
but merely to seek and find all of the barriers within yourself
that you have built against it.”

    ~  A Course in Miracles

Fall in love with existence or the divine (whatever you consider that to be).  This is the highest form of love, and when this happens in your life, it will express though your being and influence all your other relationships and actions.   A good technique to feel the love energy is to focus on the heart center and feel every heartbeat, while excluding all other thoughts and sounds.  (You can put your hand on your heart if this helps you focus).  Feel the love energy rising and send it to all areas of your body, mind, and soul that would benefit from some loving energy. 

If the previous technique seems difficult, perhaps you are too focused on your head center (which is not unusual).  Here is another technique that will help you operate from your heart center and feel the love energy rising in your being.  All you have to do is imagine that you are headless and instead are operating from your heart center.  It seems strange at first but just pretend if you have to and keep practicing.  Think about it – when someone falls in love we say they are “out of their mind” or they have “lost their head”.  In a way they have, because they are operating from the heart center.  If this becomes a habit, you will grow more loving and relate better with others.

How do you define “Love”?

Do you have a loving relationship with yourself and others?

What do you love to do?  Do you pursue your passions?  Why or why not?

Resources:

Books:

Living Enlightenment by Paramahamsa Nithyananda

Meditation is for You by Paramahamsa Nithyananda

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