Tuesday, August 03, 2004
Love and Rage
"Love and Rage" is a phrase that many anarchists and revolutionaries are familiar with. Due to their power, depth, and meaning, these can be two of the most revolutionary feelings that we can experience. Is it any wonder that these are (A) the two feelings that are manipulated the most by the mass media; and (B) the two feelings that are least understood in their most revolutionary forms?
Dividing feelings up into categories is pretty hard, but I've come to think of "love" as having three forms: affection, love [of the heart], and devotion.
Affection is a purely emotional feeling of personal pleasure and satisfaction. From a spiritual perspective, I'm thinking second chakra and the second level of the aura, aka the "emotional body." This is your enjoyment of a person or experience. Being in the presence of this person generally makes you smile, laugh, relax, or otherwise enjoy yourself. This ranges from the simple happy feelings of a good joke to the greatest intensities of sexual intimacy. It's the most tangible and immediate of the three feelings, but it's also the most impermanent. Tomorrow, their jokes might not make you laugh; their conversation might not fascinate you; their touch might not arouse you. In other words, affection only lasts as long as the other person can bring you pleasure. This doesn't mean that it's BAD! In fact, we could all use benefit from more of that emotional yumminess flowing in our lives. But it's a very specific type of "love" -- one focused primarily on you rather than the other person.
Then, there's what I call love -- or for clarity's sake, "love of the heart." From a spiritual perspective, this is related to the fourth [heart] chakra and the fourth level of the aura, aka the "astral body." This is more than just an emotion -- it's a relationship that you have with the other person. Your heart is open to them -- you truly care about them, independent of your own personal interests. This is the most deeply human form of love -- and yet, it's often seen as the most terrifying. Why? Because you are surrendering to an inner force that goes beyond your own ego. What if your love isn't reciprocated? What if they betray you? What if they actively hate you? When these things happen, love of the heart can literally feel like death because you've chosen to move beyond your ego and had it crushed in the process. But when it all goes well, this is the most beautiful and enduring love available to us. It's a force that has the power not only to change your life, but also to transform the entire world.
Finally, there's what I call devotion. From a spiritual perspective, this is related to the sixth [third eye] chakra and the sixth level of the aura, aka the "celestial body." This is transpersonal, trascendental, universal, divine love for one and all. As such, it's naturally the most enduring. However, it's also the most impersonal. It's not about you, and it's not about the other person -- it's about Spirit, the Divine, whatever you call it. If you're familiar with the word "namaste", then you're already familiar with a similar concept. "The Divine in me honors the Divine in you."
Ah, that's love for ya -- intense, complex, and wonderful. Affection, love, and devotion -- what would life be without these things?
So, remind me again -- why have I gone on that long intellectual expose on love? Oh yeah -- because I actually FEEL love! I feel a revolutionary love so powerful that I can barely stand it, and a revolutionary rage so deep that I can barely contain it.
But let's back up a second. What's rage?
I use the word in a very uncommon way. Anger is a complex feeling, just like love is. I also divide it into three categories that correspond with the ones above: anger, rage, and a third one that's hard to name. Disdain? Anyway, I'm more concerned with anger and rage today.
Anger is an emotion -- personal, sensual, impermanent. Basically, if someone has interferred with your pleasure, you get angry at them. Rage, on the other hand, is a relationship with a person or situation. You have love in your heart, and something is interfering with making that love a reality. Just as love-of-the-heart transcends affection, rage transcends anger. You're not just mad -- your heart is set on undoing the subject of your rage.
Now, I would like to differentiate between rage and hatred. In hatred, you take that rage and project it onto the outside world. "They are the ones who are responsible for taking my love from me. I will destroy them!" But it doesn't have to be that way! Instead, we can own our rage, and use it as a positive force for transformation. "This circumstance is interfering with the subject of my love, and I commit my heart and my life to undoing these terrible circumstances, hopefully to the benefit of all."
Okay... now we're coming to the punchline.
This is why the combination of Love and Rage is so powerful. If we simply Love, we may never have our revolution. We may look at all of the violent and oppressive people in the world, and we may find it in our hearts to forgive them for the harm they're doing. That's very important, but if we leave it at that, nothing but the content of our beautiful heart chagnes. If we simply Rage, then our hearts will be crippled with hatred. We will lose sight of the dream of a world where people actually going around not hating and hurting each other. Instead of seeing our opponents as tragic individuals who are caught up in their own forms of emotional/mental/spiritual illness, we will see them as evildoers who must be harmed as payback for the harm that they've done to us and our loved ones. If we do this, then how are we any different from them?
But, if we hold Love in one hand and Rage in the other, then we will truly have revolutionary hearts. We will Love others enough to truly care about them, and Rage enough to undo the harm that others are doing due to their lack of Love.
So, through Love and Rage, revolution becomes possible. But as I mentioned earlier, a truly revolutionary Love and a truly revolutionary Rage are pretty hard to explain to people.
In terms of Love, who would really believe me that I've chased the spectre of hatred from my heart? Who would understand how I can love so many people so deeply in so many unique and powerful ways? Who would trust that Love itself isn't just an illusion that I use to kid myself that life has some meaning?
In terms of Rage, who would really believe that a "mild-mannered" person like me is probably the most "angry" person that they know? [My family might believe me -- they remember my temper tantrums as a kid!] Who would understand the incomprehensible intensity that burns in my heart -- a raging fire that can only be quenched by the realization of my Love in my life and my world? Who would still Love me once they saw the depth and the power of my Rage?
So, basically, the whole point of this post is that I'm afraid that no one will understand the contents of my heart! But what else is new, eh? I used to suppress both my Love and my Rage because I was so afraid that no one would understand them -- that they were somehow inappropriate, not acceptable in the real world. In the past few years, I've come a long, long way in healing that attitude. I've embraced the contents of my heart -- but I still have a hard time sharing those contents with other people! This post is a start in that direction, much like many of my blog posts. But really, unless I spend more social time with friends and share all of this in a more personal way with them, it's all just going to scatter into the digital ether.
It's funny I should mention that. I made a conscious commitment this morning to spend more time on purely social activities rather than work or meetings. I'm still a bit mystified about how to do that exactly -- but the time is right, so I'm sure that I'll find my way there. In the meantime, I'm off to dreamland -- which, by the way, is also connected to all of this Love and Rage and revolution through the astral plane. Dreams take place on the astral, just as Love and Rage do. Long story there... but it'll have to wait for another day! In the meantime, pleasant dreams to you!
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Dividing feelings up into categories is pretty hard, but I've come to think of "love" as having three forms: affection, love [of the heart], and devotion.
Affection is a purely emotional feeling of personal pleasure and satisfaction. From a spiritual perspective, I'm thinking second chakra and the second level of the aura, aka the "emotional body." This is your enjoyment of a person or experience. Being in the presence of this person generally makes you smile, laugh, relax, or otherwise enjoy yourself. This ranges from the simple happy feelings of a good joke to the greatest intensities of sexual intimacy. It's the most tangible and immediate of the three feelings, but it's also the most impermanent. Tomorrow, their jokes might not make you laugh; their conversation might not fascinate you; their touch might not arouse you. In other words, affection only lasts as long as the other person can bring you pleasure. This doesn't mean that it's BAD! In fact, we could all use benefit from more of that emotional yumminess flowing in our lives. But it's a very specific type of "love" -- one focused primarily on you rather than the other person.
Then, there's what I call love -- or for clarity's sake, "love of the heart." From a spiritual perspective, this is related to the fourth [heart] chakra and the fourth level of the aura, aka the "astral body." This is more than just an emotion -- it's a relationship that you have with the other person. Your heart is open to them -- you truly care about them, independent of your own personal interests. This is the most deeply human form of love -- and yet, it's often seen as the most terrifying. Why? Because you are surrendering to an inner force that goes beyond your own ego. What if your love isn't reciprocated? What if they betray you? What if they actively hate you? When these things happen, love of the heart can literally feel like death because you've chosen to move beyond your ego and had it crushed in the process. But when it all goes well, this is the most beautiful and enduring love available to us. It's a force that has the power not only to change your life, but also to transform the entire world.
Finally, there's what I call devotion. From a spiritual perspective, this is related to the sixth [third eye] chakra and the sixth level of the aura, aka the "celestial body." This is transpersonal, trascendental, universal, divine love for one and all. As such, it's naturally the most enduring. However, it's also the most impersonal. It's not about you, and it's not about the other person -- it's about Spirit, the Divine, whatever you call it. If you're familiar with the word "namaste", then you're already familiar with a similar concept. "The Divine in me honors the Divine in you."
Ah, that's love for ya -- intense, complex, and wonderful. Affection, love, and devotion -- what would life be without these things?
So, remind me again -- why have I gone on that long intellectual expose on love? Oh yeah -- because I actually FEEL love! I feel a revolutionary love so powerful that I can barely stand it, and a revolutionary rage so deep that I can barely contain it.
But let's back up a second. What's rage?
I use the word in a very uncommon way. Anger is a complex feeling, just like love is. I also divide it into three categories that correspond with the ones above: anger, rage, and a third one that's hard to name. Disdain? Anyway, I'm more concerned with anger and rage today.
Anger is an emotion -- personal, sensual, impermanent. Basically, if someone has interferred with your pleasure, you get angry at them. Rage, on the other hand, is a relationship with a person or situation. You have love in your heart, and something is interfering with making that love a reality. Just as love-of-the-heart transcends affection, rage transcends anger. You're not just mad -- your heart is set on undoing the subject of your rage.
Now, I would like to differentiate between rage and hatred. In hatred, you take that rage and project it onto the outside world. "They are the ones who are responsible for taking my love from me. I will destroy them!" But it doesn't have to be that way! Instead, we can own our rage, and use it as a positive force for transformation. "This circumstance is interfering with the subject of my love, and I commit my heart and my life to undoing these terrible circumstances, hopefully to the benefit of all."
Okay... now we're coming to the punchline.
This is why the combination of Love and Rage is so powerful. If we simply Love, we may never have our revolution. We may look at all of the violent and oppressive people in the world, and we may find it in our hearts to forgive them for the harm they're doing. That's very important, but if we leave it at that, nothing but the content of our beautiful heart chagnes. If we simply Rage, then our hearts will be crippled with hatred. We will lose sight of the dream of a world where people actually going around not hating and hurting each other. Instead of seeing our opponents as tragic individuals who are caught up in their own forms of emotional/mental/spiritual illness, we will see them as evildoers who must be harmed as payback for the harm that they've done to us and our loved ones. If we do this, then how are we any different from them?
But, if we hold Love in one hand and Rage in the other, then we will truly have revolutionary hearts. We will Love others enough to truly care about them, and Rage enough to undo the harm that others are doing due to their lack of Love.
So, through Love and Rage, revolution becomes possible. But as I mentioned earlier, a truly revolutionary Love and a truly revolutionary Rage are pretty hard to explain to people.
In terms of Love, who would really believe me that I've chased the spectre of hatred from my heart? Who would understand how I can love so many people so deeply in so many unique and powerful ways? Who would trust that Love itself isn't just an illusion that I use to kid myself that life has some meaning?
In terms of Rage, who would really believe that a "mild-mannered" person like me is probably the most "angry" person that they know? [My family might believe me -- they remember my temper tantrums as a kid!] Who would understand the incomprehensible intensity that burns in my heart -- a raging fire that can only be quenched by the realization of my Love in my life and my world? Who would still Love me once they saw the depth and the power of my Rage?
So, basically, the whole point of this post is that I'm afraid that no one will understand the contents of my heart! But what else is new, eh? I used to suppress both my Love and my Rage because I was so afraid that no one would understand them -- that they were somehow inappropriate, not acceptable in the real world. In the past few years, I've come a long, long way in healing that attitude. I've embraced the contents of my heart -- but I still have a hard time sharing those contents with other people! This post is a start in that direction, much like many of my blog posts. But really, unless I spend more social time with friends and share all of this in a more personal way with them, it's all just going to scatter into the digital ether.
It's funny I should mention that. I made a conscious commitment this morning to spend more time on purely social activities rather than work or meetings. I'm still a bit mystified about how to do that exactly -- but the time is right, so I'm sure that I'll find my way there. In the meantime, I'm off to dreamland -- which, by the way, is also connected to all of this Love and Rage and revolution through the astral plane. Dreams take place on the astral, just as Love and Rage do. Long story there... but it'll have to wait for another day! In the meantime, pleasant dreams to you!
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