It Ain't Love If It Ain’t Enough

"When poverty knocks on the door, love flies out of the window." I was still so young when I first heard this doctrine; but in spite of that, even by then, something within me reacted and whispered that the maxim was wrong. Even at that time, for a moment I'd stopped and asked myself whether the saying was factual or not. Although I found no clear answer, I looked around and somehow consulted the impoverishment of the poor people around me. I was afraid of what I saw, and without considering the strength that binds the relationships of the poor people, I concluded that maybe the truism was true. But by then, of course, I knew nothing about love, as practically I knew nothing about God.

This aphorism insinuates that poverty, the lack of material needs, is stronger than love; that poverty and love do not go well together; that love is weak and it is afraid of indigence. But is poverty, which causes dishonor, hunger, and even death, indeed stronger than love? "Amor Vincit Omnia", Love Conquers All. Nothing is more powerful than love. Materialism is very powerful, but it has no power over love. As what has been proven by the Gospel of Christ, even the most feared death has no sting against a loving son’s love for his Father. There is enough proof that love is powerful, but love’s power depends on whether love is real or not. Lust is not as powerful as love. 

"No money, no honey," but "Money can’t buy love." And why call her honey when she is not sweet and all she cares about is money? Strength is gauged by its trials. Love is not love, without proof. Real love sticks through thick and thin, so why waste precious time thinking about losing a selfish person whose only concern is her/his own self? Love is tested by our own desires based on ignorance and by lust born out of envy. "How Deep is Our Love?" Every day, every hour, every second, we are tempted by our minds to do things that will lead us away from love. We must fight the waves of illusion by calling on the mercy of the loving God through prayers and service so that we can go deeper into love.

"Love," according to a popular song, "is sometimes just ain’t enough". Clearly, but sadly, the songwriter has no real knowledge of the real meaning of love. And he's probably in lust rather than love. Love is courageous and not afraid of anything. Physically, the worst thing that poverty can do is to make a person hungry or die. Although, in one of the songs by The Eagles, it states, "When we’re hungry, love will keep us alive." We are told to not be too concerned about our food and shelter because the All-Compassionate Lord will provide those things for us. We should be more concerned about loving the Supreme Lover and Protector, because only by doing so will we learn the real meaning of love. 

 

"The Truth shall set us free." "God is Absolute Truth." As children of the Supreme Spirit, we are also spirits. We are also eternal. We are deathless. A real lover is full of knowledge, and with knowledge, we can overcome all kinds of fear, including the ultimate fear, which is the fear of death. Some preachers teach us to be afraid of God, but this is improper and unconducive because our Father is so kind and so loving. Why should we be afraid of him? Personally, I am most afraid of two things: losing God’s love and being totally away from Him.
   

The phrase "making love" in the song "Making Love Out of Nothing at All" is nonsense and incorrect, because no one can actually make love. Nevertheless, the song is a testimony that some people are capable of making love a priority rather than just an option. The writer, despite his awesome power, was fascinated by the attitude and ways of an authentic lover. Furthermore, let me add that the song is about the feeling of being in love rather than having sex, which is the moronic contemporary meaning of the phrase "making love." In addition, in the coda of the song, it was mentioned that "I have got to follow it because everything I do is nothing till I give it to you."

People work hard for material things because they want to be happy. Sadly, even striving spiritualists fall prey to this illusion. Instead of striving to love the Supreme Lover, they utilized their resources, energy, and precious time to chase after temporary material things, seemingly convinced that happiness is there. But by their actions, I can conclude that they end up no happier than they were before; definitely not wiser; and seemingly more hard-hearted and emptier. We are told to use a spiritual barometer. If we do, our emptiness will be determined by the amount of nonsense in our minds, by our anger, insecurities, and fears, and by our endless materialistic desires.

A friend once told me,
"Show me a rich man who is happy and
I will endeavor to become rich.
Maybe this is the reason why
I never sought wealth for myself.
because so far, I have seen none. 

Indeed, the illusion personified by Maya is so cunning and powerful. No doubt, she is a cruel adversary who will not give up on anything to an opponent without gain. The whole material universe is a big prison cell under her care. Her job is not to let anyone escape, and one way to do it is to let no one understand the real meaning of love. To truly understand love is to hear it from the bonafide representatives of The Supreme Lover. When a person truly understands love, he is free; the shackles of illusion and materialistic desires have no power over him. His vision is clear; he sees everything as it is. Our lust is where the root of our weakness is; we can only be easily tempted if we feel that we are lacking something. We are stronger and can not be easily tempted when we have enough and we are complete. Thus, we must have God because to have God is to have more than enough. God is love, and love, like God, is more than enough and complete. 4-22-2013

NOTE: Knowing one’s real identity is the beginning of wisdom. We are spirit-soul in essence. As our material body needs material food, we need spiritual food. Ours are spiritual inner cravings, which cannot be appeased by any kind or amount of material things. This is the reason why we can never have enough and there is no such thing as enough, which means an adequate and sufficient amount to meet a need or satisfy a desire. As spirits, we are eternal, but without spiritual food, we will be spiritually dead. "Our daily bread" spiritual intake is the only thing that will keep us alive.

Materialism, like sex, is an itch; the more one scratches, the more one itches. Given a chance, a single person will consume the whole world and still not be satisfied because he is deranged, an eternal being who is foolishly seeking happiness in the temporary material realm.