I was a little unsure where to put this. Recently, on ILP, much has been said and written regarding LOVE. I have spent the evening copying the attached text from a book entitled, ‘The More Excellent Way’. A sequence of meditations compiled by The Honourable Mrs. Lyttleton Gell.
Each section of the book is introduced by ‘LOVE’.
The language is a tad archaic, but I suppose that is to be expected - the book, and Love in particular, have been around for quite some time.
“Though I speak with the tongues of men and of angels, and have not LOVE, I am become as sounding brass.” St Paul.
OF LOVE’S NATURE
LOVE SPEAKS: –
I have heard thy voice of glad surprise, of new-found happiness in the knowledge of my existence. Thou, the child of man, hast awoken to the revelation of the Heaven-born.
Thou hast tasted my delights, and wouldst fain make me thine irrevocably and for ever. Wise art thou; for in my hands are rarest gifts and treasures.
I can, if I will, crown the true lover with priceless jewels; I can reveal joys undreamed of. No matter if thy birth be humble; for where I take possession, I bring my own patent of nobility. No matter if thou be not among the wise of the earth; I have keys to unlock the most secret stores of wisdom. I have all, and it is all for such as can build me a shrine where I may abide.
But what dost thou know of me – of me the Heaven-born? Thou art but on the threshold, much is yet to learn. My kingdom lies stretched out before thee, and thou wouldst forthwith take possession. Nay, already thou art in error – ‘tis I must take possession of thee.
What! Shall I – the Limitless – narrow my nature till thou canst contain it? Shall I, who am of Heaven, permit that thou drag me down to earth? Shall I, the Mystery of Mysteries, be fathomed by thy scanty plumb-line?
Nay! If indeed I be desired, I, the Infinity, must absorb the finite. I must by slow degrees enlarge the narrowness of ignorance and deepen the shallowness of self-satisfaction, that I may expand uncircumscribed. I must lift up the earth-born nature to mine, which is of Heaven; I must unfold my mysteries one by one as thou art able to understand.
And thou must yield all to me. Thy dull ear must be trained to catch my low tones, for my voice is raised in clamour for none – it will be heard even as the whisper of thine own soul. Thine eye must be swift to mark my lightest gesture, for I guide by touches so subtle that in comparison the flutter of the butterfly’s wing is rough.
My nature is changeless. ‘Tis for thee to choose whether I abide or depart. I f thou strive against me, I am gone, and in place of the beauteous form and glowing colouring thou thoughtest to clasp, in thy hand will be left but a heap of dust.
Yet know that here is the great, the glorious opportunity, for if thou comprehend me, I will dower thee with Eternal Bliss.
OF LOVE’S ESSENTIALS
LOVE SPEAKS: –
The choice is made, and thou wilt in very deed that I abide with thee; forthwith shall a shrine be built for my sojourn, the fellow-worker is assured, and together ye would lay the foundations and build a home for me.
Show me then the plan ye have formed and the materials ye bring to execute it, that each may be set in its fitting place.
What is the groundwork? For unless this be well and truly laid, how shall the dwelling resist the buffets of adverse fortune? – A passionate devotion to the life of another is to be the basis of all? – So far, well; none other will stand. But see to it that thy marble be perfect, neither flawed with desire for self-advancement or self-interest, nor veined with dark and dubious shades which mar its perfection of purity.
Rest content with nothing that lacks completeness. Sincerity alone can lay a sure foundation. Let thy tools be well-tempered; thy cement in due proportions. Heed not those who scoff at your providence; they do but seek to beguile thee from thy lofty purpose. With faulty tools no lasting monuments are reared. Reck not of their scorn; these are Love’s murderers. For a pure environment is Love’s very life.
But more. To the task must be brought loving service and infinite patience – meet corner-stones of the fane. To these add large-hearted discernment, that thy materials may serve to carry out thy first design. Unwise are they who squander on the earlier stages all that should have been husband till the last coping-stone was duly set.
A fine balance is essential in they dispositions, that the co-operation of thy help-meet may not be at one time overtaxed, at another by the wavering enthusiasm. Above all, for the perfecting of the fabric, ye must both bring fearlessness, the keystone of the whole – the crown of your endeavour.
So shall the Temple of Love rise fair and stately, secure on stable foundations against the tempests of misfortune – a retreat no whit less needful, in the fevered noonday of prosperity.
OF LOVE’S GRACES
LOVE SPEAKS: –
Come, I will unfold to thee my treasures, and deck thee with the graces that beseem my votaries. Fair art thou? I will give to thy beauty an added radiance, so that the sight of thee shall gladden all. If thy countenance be undistinguished, yet even so, through my magic shalt thou shine.
Let me but inform thee, and no more shall thine aspect lack colour and brightness; I will beautify thee; the lovely thoughts new-begotten in thy soul shall be manifest in thy mien. I will endow thee with a gift which is above all Beauty and without which Beauty itself is unsufficing. Charm shall transform thy being!
Knowest thou the full significance of my favour? I have placed in thy hand a key to the hearts of all men. Henceforth shall that which was difficult be easy; that which was complicated, simple; the heavy burden light.
And the gift, if thou have wisdom to preserve it, is life-long. Age will fade thy delicate colouring, will blanch they head, and rob thy comeliness of its goodly contours – but against the Charm I bestow, Age hath no weapons. For Age which pales mere external attractions, doth but leave my impress writ more clear. Age which wastes the body, doth liberate the Soul. And Charm is of the Soul.
Let Charm be counted then among thy choicest treasures. Let its subtle essence be guarded from all that may impair. For, alas! Many to whom my grace was rendered in full abundance, have lost it in pursuit of what by comparison was worthless.
I gave them the flower they desired – a rosebud full of promise. By slow degrees would each leaf have unfolded in turn, till the perfect beauty of the developed blossom became a lasting glory to the bosom it adorned.
But Love’s way was too slow. With sacrilegious fingers the bud was forced open ere it matured. Love was but an episode to be hurried over that wealth might be secured, or ambition gratified, and in the squalid struggle – the pride of conquest, maybe – the calm, essential to enduring Charm, melted away.
Half the life-journey yet remains; but the inspiring perfume is dissipated; nothing is left but a handful of dead leaves. Even so, Love’s resources may yet avail. Obedience to my counsels, though tardy, still redeems. The fading petals may yield a precious essence to pervade the closing years.
OF LOVE’S CAPACITIES
LOVE SPEAKS: –
Truly my counsel has not been in vain. I see thy Love radiant with ever-ripening graces, it rests with thee now to go forth – to achieve!
Wouldst thou linger content with the present attainment? Nay! For so would Love be wronged. Let not the Heavenly Visitant, who deigns to abide with thee, be shackled. That he may come to his full strength he needs space for growth, for influence.
Not for selfish enjoyment is he given to thee, but that through his power thy little corner of the world may be left richer than before. So shall thine own happiness be increased a thousandfold – so shall the fount of delight be ever new.
Seek not to bind Love – lest so he escape thee. Rather yield thyself to him that he may consecrate every act of life. Give him scope to transform all that is not of his spirit – yet not for thine own advantage, thine individual profit – but for the love of Love.
So shall every thought and word and deed of thine be caught up in the Eternal! So shall they sweetness be the inspiration of another; thy gentleness shall turn to greatness; thy unconscious acts of self-sacrifice and renunciation – all, all shall go to the perfecting of thy twin self, in whose achievements thou too art glorified!
On thee shall the cares and anxieties of life then leave no lasting impress. Darkness for thee shall be illumined by a quenchless torch. The deep waters shall not engulf thee – for thy Love shall be as strong as Death and enduring as Eternity!
OF LOVE’S DUES
LOVE SPEAKS: –
Much hath been given, much attained – and whoso hath benefited from my bounty must needs be ready to pay my dues to the uttermost. Never yet reigned king on earth who exacted no tribute from his subjects; and the greater the monarch – the statelier his court – the more dignified the observance yielded.
Yet, though I be suzerain of all, in this do the magnates of the world far exceed my demands. Their servants are the poorer for their loyal offerings – but the dues I claim take nothing from whoso pays them. Nay, rather do they add lustre to the giver. For I ask nought that I will not render again tenfold.
Is it Reverence thou offerest? – Thine oblation shall through my touch form an aureole for thine own brow. Is it Generosity? – Thy silver shall be recompensed to thee in gold.
Thine utmost Faithfulness can be but a scanty quittance for my unwearying guidance. Shall not I who consecrated you each to be the guardian of the other, require from you the fulfilment of your mutual responsibility – as much to your honour as mine?
I am no alien despot, but a sovereign duly appointed, chosen afresh by your dual voice. Seek not to stint me of my rightful tribute. Loyalty should know no weariness: – Reverence must lose nothing in familiar intercourse; – Generosity’s exchequer must never be found empty. Nor must the weeks and months and years of my sojourn with you abate one jot of your responsibility each for the other.
To Me thou art answerable today for this other self, as in the beginning, when I first brought to thee thy twin-soul. If I be defrauded of what is mine, the fault lies at thy door. ‘Tis thy impatience, thy carelessness, – thy indifference maybe – which has marred what else had been perfect.
Beware lest outraged Love withdraw his despised gifts, and bestow his honours on one less unworthy!
OF LOVE’S PARADOXES
LOVE SPEAKS: –
Hast thou found and held me? Then hast thou already learnt somewhat of the Secret of the Immortals. Yet am I – ever elusive – the Eternal Paradox.
For me exists nor time nor space. Is the loved one absent? Yet though me shall the Beloved pervade every thought and action, while all others seem far away:-- the Actual is as the shadow of a dream:-- Realities vanish:-- Dreamers and Poets become the shrewdest counsellors.
I render a short life longer than that of the centenarian, for in me the fulness of life overrides mere human reckoning of length of days.
My absence makes the richest poor; my presence gives the poorest, riches. Others economise by hoarding: – the more I give, the fuller my abundance. That which I shut under lock and key, I lose – that which I spread abroad is doubly mine – and for ever.
I am at once as pure as ice, yet as glowing as the autumn sunset. I am a harmony in disorder – a Life in death – even a Death in life. I cannot be selfish, yet never am I self-less, for through unselfishness I do but add to myself another self. Many have termed me the Supreme Egoism – but such have erred; for the breath of the Egoist is to me a deadly poison.
I am the Force that moves the world, yet the scorn of a maiden may annihilate me. My service imposes a bondage, which is the perfection of Freedom. I am the most subtle of simplicities – the most open of secrets – a sealed book, whose contents are divined by the most unlettered.
I am Nothing and Everything – the Beginning and the End – yet with no beginning or end of my own; – the Unspeakable – the Unfathomable – the Master Key.
In short – I am LOVE!
THE PERFECT UNION
LOVE SPEAKS :–
The Crown, the Perfection of Love – who shall attain? Who shall translate into actuality the glimpses of blessedness which the Betrothal-time afforded? Who shall grasp and fix for ever the bright ideals, the generous impulses, the wondrous revelations which Love the Conqueror has taught?
Shall they abide? Or shall Love’s fruit be less than Love’s seed and blossom? That moment of insight – was it but a phase? – a phantasy? – an episode? – left behind as a toy outgrown, for newer experiences, for more piquant joys?
A Perfect Union! this I offer not on the day that gives you to each other – that seals you one in the eyes of the world. Then you but cross the threshold: – the innermost sanctuary can only be reached step by step, as you learn each from the other in long years of growing knowledge, what Life and Love combined can give.
For the essence of the Perfect Union is progress. Each chamber unlocked reveals a wider, richer treasury beyond.
Alas! For whoso strives to stereotype development, – to say ‘I have attained!’ For such, the Perfect Union can never be. The outer court is his portion. Perpetual growth and expansion can alone avert decay, or that paralysis which is as death in life.
But for you – Lovers for Time and for Eternity – is the complete – the supreme Revelation! To you is committed the sacred guardianship of the To-Be – the opportunity of realizing in your twofold Life the Divine Oneness – for Love is of God. And if you fail of your endeavour, the cause is in yourselves. Dwell in Love – in God – and God and Love will abide in you.
Strive to bring each to the other the completeness which neither alone can achieve. Rest content with nothing short of the highest, for that other as well as for yourself. Be infinitely patient, infinitely sympathetic. Let self-sacrifice be your rule, and guard each the other’s ideals with passionate reverence.
Let your God-life bring to all around the conviction of experience: – so will your joy, your happiness, be to them an assurance of realities they would fain believe in – an epistle – written indeed in hearts, but known and read of all men.
Actualize your Immortality now! The Heavenly Life is the Life of Love; and for those that live in God there is no need to wait for the change which men call Death, – for here and now the Life Immortal has begun.
