The Essence of Love, Saturday, March 6, 1999, 5:00 p.m.

The lark and the chickadee had a conversation. They were discussing love. It was quite a discussion, quite an argument, almost. For they had very different ideas.

Is love getting or giving? Well, said the lark, I think it is in the giving. When I sing, the lovers are drawn together, and I feel love when I give them this little treat. I believe it is in the giving and that is all that really matters.

Ah, said the chickadee, that is because you are focusing only on yourself. What of the lovers? They are not only giving, they are getting as well. They are being together, touching, giving and getting, exchanging. Obviously, love is best when it is an even trade, when each gives and gets an equal amount. This is the essence of love.

But neither of them truly knew, because neither the lark nor the chickadee goes to the heart of love, knows the heart of love. No. This belongs to the dove.

For the dove knows that love lies neither in the giving nor in the getting. The dove knows that love is simply what overflows out of the heart that is full of peace.

The heart that is full of peace begins to glow and overflow. And the heart full of peace cannot help but do this, for this is the essence of inner peace, to overflow and become more than you were.

And of course, in this overflow, there is a giving, since others can share in the peace. And of course in this peace there is a getting, because you are getting the heart of the world, when you get internal peace.

But the true essence of love, you see, is love for yourself, love focused within. Loving yourself so deeply, so quietly and peacefully, that the love for yourself becomes love for the world and everyone else in it.

And why should love of the self be good? Because we are talking of the inner self, the deep self which is one with the flow. And this inner self which is one with the flow is also one with everything else in the flow.

And what else is in the flow? Everyone and everything. So you see, when you love yourself, you automatically love everyone else, everyone else in the world.

For you are all one.

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