​Learning to Live in Love:

The Path of Intimate Presence

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Learning to Live in Love is not something romantic, or easy, or quick.
It is an apprenticeship, a commitment, a life-path, a pilgrimage...

​

I

 

When we fall in love

we see another´s beauty -

and not just their physical beauty -

we see the beauty of their essence

shining through their personality.

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It´s beautiful to see each other in this way,

and to feel seen in this way.

It´s as if we´ve been touched by grace -

and maybe we have!

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We feel life´s full of magic -

full of possibilities.

We feel a delicious eroticism in our bodies -

even when we are not together.

And we feel a delicious happiness in our hearts -

regardless of what´s going on around us.

People look at us -

and know...

"John´s in love! Just look at him!"

"Mary´s is in love! Just look at her!"

We shine with love.

 

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II

Two or three years later,

who´s still in this beautiful state?

Few of us.

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But this loss

is not inevitable.

It´s possible

to stay in love.

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III

And it´s not just possible to stay in love with our partner,

it´s possible to stay in love with everyone!

It´s possible to live in love!

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Just as, in the beginning, we perceived the beauty of our partner's essence,

and didn´t judge the "imperfections" of their personality,

because we saw their personality lit up by their essence -

it´s possible to see everyone´s personality lit up by the beauty of their essence.

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But to see everyone else´s beauty,

we have to first see our own beauty.

We have to be in love with ourselves!

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​

IV

This means facing, accepting and embracing

all aspects of our personality.

All of them!

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And we can only face, accept and embrace

from our essence -

which means we need to be in the present moment.

Because that's where our essence lives!

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So, it means learning to live in the present -

more and more fully -

and there, learning to manage everything inside us

that takes us out of the present moment.

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This is The Path of Intimate Presence.

It requires commitment.

It requires discipline.

It requires tenderness.

It requires humour.

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It´s a path of self-knowledge -

because the present moment is the portal to the Great Mystery -

and the deeper we enter into the present moment,

the more deeply we recognise that we ourselves

are The Great Mystery.

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And gradually,

little by little -

as we stop trying to be what we are not -

and we stop pretending to know what we don't know,

and we allow ourselves to be what we always were -

gradually,

little by little -

we look at our personalities with a gentle and sweet acceptance -

and in that same way
we look at everyone.

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Other people don´t need to be in love with themselves,

We love them anyway.

We see them -

even if they don't see themselves!

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We come to live in the Pleasure of Presence.

We come to Live in Love.

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