Some will tell you that fear is the opposite of love. And
in this teaching the war begins.
But love has no opposite, for it is whole and without
division. Love is the field in which all form comes and goes, including the
temporary, wavelike appearance of fear. It is the vast, tender space in which
all emotions, feelings, and raw sensations arise, play in light and dark, and
then dissolve.
Just like passing clouds could never taint the purity of
the sky, the temporary dance of fear could never stain the majesty of what
you are.
The longing for fearlessness is honorable and holy. But
that realization is possible only by way of intimacy with the fear itself. Drop
the word “fear” and enter into the very core of the feelings, emotions, and
tender, achy sensations that are arising for integration.
Dare to see that these ones are not enemies arriving to
annihilate, but secret guides come to illumine. When fully met in the sanctuary
of wise, wild, and reorganizing compassion, fear is able to reveal itself, like
all other form, as none other than love in disguise.
If you will take even your fear as a lover, new life will
emerge from this union, from this seed. You need no longer practice a
spirituality of aggression. Fear is not the opposite of love, for love has no
opposite.
Photo: resting in the holding of St. Clare of Assisi, Taos,
New Mexico
