Welcome to the Wisdom Wheel Law of Love # 08

Welcome to Law # 8, the Master Law of Love. If we could master this Law, or let it master us, maybe we wouldn’t need all the other Laws. Love is the final Law of the inner circle on the Wisdom Wheel. Over the next four weeks, Love will be the prism you view the world through. Enjoy the many perspectives on Love, as you circumnavigate the Four Directions on Wheel, considering its mental, emotional, physical and spiritual angles. Last month you looked at the many kinds of Faith. This month you’ll look at the different forms Love takes as its energy radiates outward through Self, the Wheel, the Universe and every living thing.

From our varying stages of evolution, Love has many appearances in individual lives and the global community as a whole. Our relationships reveal what we have yet to learn about Love. It is a paradox. We can not know Love unless we have the Courage to Surrender and let it happen. But who in their (ego) mind allows themselves to be overtaken by something so powerful which can cost everything?  True Lovers understand this wisdom. Until you have dedicated and devoted your Self whole-heartedly to some thing and/or person(s), you will not know Love. 

Love exacts a high price but it leaves us rich beyond measure. What we Give & Receive by loving is incalculable and indescribable, though writers and artists have tried to capture and explain it for centuries. Think of people you know who embody various lessons about Love. Ask yourself; Who loves most?  And who is most loved?  

 How many kinds of Love stories have you heard? From the tragic and romantic tales of Romeo and Juliet to the spiritual Love of the mystics and the saints, like Teresa de Avila. Don’t forget to do an online search this month using Love as a keyword to see what has been written on the subject. Experiment to see if you can fit the following titles onto the Wheel, in the quadrants;

1. The Book of Love, 827 pg. collection of poems, sonnets, essays & letters edited by D. Ackerman & J. Mackin 
2. Hugh Prathers’ Notes on Love & Courage
3. Rollo May Love & Will
4. Bell Hooks all about love
5. Henry Grayson Mindful Loving
6. Llewellyn Vaughan-Lee, the Sufi, Love is a Fire. 

One of my all time favorite authors on the subject of Love is the 13 century Muslim mystic Jelahuddin Rumi. His poetry has stood the test of time and has also passed the cross-cultural test, proving its global value and applicability. This Sufi teacher/poet lived in ancient Persia (part of present day Iran and Afghanistan ) but is widely popular in the West. His life story illustrates the price of Love as well as its lasting benefits to the rest of us. 

Rumi came from a family of Islamic scholars and made a name for himself as a religious teacher in his fathers’ school.  He had a wife and children but felt something was missing from his life. One day a stranger rode into town, dressed in a dusty cloak. His name was Shams (Arabic for Sun). Their meeting had a profound affect on Rumi because it caused him to question everything he thought he knew. Shams catalyzed Rumi’s realization that he’d been a fool to believe in things like received wisdom instead of first–hand experience. Shams represented Rumi’s chance to know Love and God, like he’d never known before. They spent days, weeks and months together, talking and praying, holed up together day and night. This did not sit well with Rumi’s family or his students. They became very jealous and angry.

Like most great Love stories, Rumi’s ended sadly. His students had Shams killed. Rumi’s beautiful poetry is inspired by his longing for his friend, this man who’d helped him connect his Love to God as The Friend. Rumi immortalized this kind of spiritual Love relationship. Coleman Barks is the best known translator of Rumi’s work, start with Rumi: The Book of Love : Poems of Ecstasy and Longing  Also wonderful, The Illuminated Rumi by Rumi, Coleman Barks, and Michael Green  Makes a great gift for a loved one. Read Rumi aloud with some one you Love.   

Many blessings, Malcolm & Cynthia Davidson 

P.S. Are you in Love with the Wheel and this work yet?