True Love, Right Now
February 3, 2009 by Tracee Sioux
Filed under Parenting
As Valentine’s Day approaches I realize – after sifting through the B.S. of romance books and movies and media interpretations of “love” – that what we all deeply want is a deeply spiritually connected relationship with our spouse.
One of the things that finally clued me in – aside from denouncing all the popular culture myths of what love is – is Eckhart Tolle’s book, The Power of Now.
It always breaks my heart a little when people get a divorce. Even celebrities. It’s worth mourning.
It occurs to me when others divorce, or when I have considered ending my own marriage, that the people trying to escape are never, ever going to escape. They will find temporary relief from the pain.
They will either live alone and long for someone or they will find someone new with similar issues and problems, who touch on the exact same nerves and sore spots.
Because the issue isn’t with your current spouse. It’s with you. His issue is his issue and yours is yours. You think you’ll escape yours when you leave him, but God/The Universe will hand it right back to you in the shape and form of someone else equally dysfunctional. Because we all are. Dysfunctional, I mean. Until we wake up and get a spiritual clue.
Eckhart Tolle says it like this,
Humaninty is under great pressure to evolve because it is our only chance of survival as a race. This will affect every aspect of your life and close relationships in particular. Never before have relationships been as problematic and conflict ridden as the are now. As you may have noticed, they are not here to make you happy or fulfilled. If you continue to pursue the goal of salvation through a relationship, you will be disillusioned again and again. But if you accept that the relationship is here to make you conscious instead of happy, then the relationship will offer you salvation, and you will be aligning yourself with the higher consciousness that wants to be born in this world. For those who hold on to the old patterns, there will be increasing pain, violence, confusion and madness.
Oh, I don’t think I told you, but I went to the library’s annual book sale. They clean out the shelves every January. I just happened to be there that day, and out of hundreds and hundreds of books there sits The Power of Now. It was waiting for me. Hard back. Spine unbroken. One dollar. Yes!
I began with A New Earth (by Eckhart Tolle) and am reading The Power of Now currently. I’m also listening to it on audio as I read. I find hearing Tolle’s voice and my own as I read the words brings more clarity to the whole experience.
I’ve always found “self-help” books left me feeling kind of depressed, and tend to shun them. But I was very drawn to Tolle and can honestly say his writings and philosophy have given me tangible awareness to so much I held in the shadows before. I recommend him whenever I can, and am so pleased to see him here on your blog!
We as a society are entering a new enlightment. I see it every day. =)
I’ve been married 25-years and I totally agree it’s about finding the happiness in the now – it took us a few years to figure that out – but now we appreciate everything and each other with the promise of growing together.
Thanks for the great review and suggestion for a new read!