Love, the basis of everything

In his best-selling book, Proof of Heaven: A Neurosurgeon’s Journey into the Afterlife, Dr. Eben Alexander, author and academic neurosurgeon who served at Harvard Medical School, Brigham & Women’s Hospital, and Boston Children’s Hospital, makes this observation:

“Love is, without a doubt, the basis of everything. Not some abstract, hard-to-fathom kind of love but the day-to-day kind that everyone knows—the kind of love we feel when we look at our spouse and children, or even our animals. In its purest and most powerful form, this love is not jealous or selfish, but unconditional. This is the reality of realities, the incomprehensibly glorious truth of truths that lives and breathes at the core of everything that exists or that ever will exist, and no remotely accurate understanding of who and what we are can be achieved by anyone who does not know it, and embody it in all of their actions.”

Dr. Alexander’s experience, like many other people’s similar near-death experiences, revealed an order of things with God as Love itself. This divine Love is the center, foundation, and structure of everything.

God’s everlasting love naturally draws people closer to Him. When people yield to this beckoning—which doesn’t need to wait until near death or after death, but can happen right here and now—then they can’t help but see that no other power but divine Love is truly in authority. Everlasting Love becomes known as all there really is in life.

“He that dwelleth in love dwelleth in God, and God in him,” the Bible explains (I John 4:16 ). This is an ideal arrangement. I love to invest in moments to feel the goodness of this basic truth. We are the offspring of divine Love, and so there is nothing more natural for us to do than to love and to feel God’s love.

One’s commitment to expressing God’s love has far-reaching effects, not only for oneself, but also for the world. How we each live and love matters to every single person, because each loving thought and act—each prayer we pray—has a leavening effect on everyone.

Yet, it’s important to say that it’s allowing oneself to reflect God’s love that really makes the difference. Even the best of human goodness and love is still not enough. Could Jesus’ words, actions, and healing work continue to be so far-reaching today if they were backed only by his personal benevolence? He must have been reflecting God, divine, harmonious, and eternal Love, to have transformed so many lives.

Jesus was committed to living and working under the impetus of God’s law. He was always about his Father’s business (see Luke 2:49 ). And like Jesus, you can be sure that if you are about your Father’s business—expressing divine Love persistently in your thoughts, words, and actions—then you are making a difference for good, no matter what the situation. Healing takes place, not only for others, but also for you as well.

Bathing every act in God's love, and infusing every thought with this love—that is true joy.

When you express God’s love, it’s like playing a musical instrument. Instead of using a piano or a guitar, your instrument is your whole day. The music you can choose to play in your day is the love of God. You can decide to play it anywhere and anytime. In different moments of your day, it’s fun to look for opportunities to give a mini-concert of active, pure love for God and man. Expressing God’s radiant love not only heals, it is what you were created to do, and what you do best.

In her book Science and Health with Key to the Scriptures, Mary Baker Eddy asks: “Dost thou ‘love the Lord thy God with all thy heart, and with all thy soul, and with all thy mind’? This command includes much, even the surrender of all merely material sensation, affection, and worship. This is the El Dorado of Christianity” (p. 9 ).

Loving God this much is a choice. Our commitment to this choice is measured in the degree to which our actions and decisions, whether of great importance or trivial, are carried out at the impulse of love. Bathing every act in God’s love, and infusing every thought with this love—that is true joy.

It’s worth it to draw heavily on the healing power of divine Love. People are often willing to love others, but few will consistently allow things to work the other way around and make space to feel God’s love for themselves. Doing that is not a selfish thing. When you let yourself be loved by God, watch how this love overflows and helps others around you.

Stick with the fact that you are at one with everlasting Love. Like Dr. Alexander, you will find that Love is, in fact, the basis of everything. Acknowledging this Love is a little like holding a warm cup of hot chocolate in your hands on a cold day. The longer you hold it, the more you feel the warmth. Watch how the more you cling to the presence of Love in your thinking, the more you feel its healing warmth and enduring power.