loving Today (part three)

Nirvana, is a way of constituting the ideal loving of one's self. It is akin to Agape because both aspire to shun the desires of the ego and all that society suggests we should strive to attain. The difference is that Agape is relational and Nirvana is internal.

"There's a center out of which you act…unless this center has been found— you're torn apart, tension comes.

Now, the Buddha's word is Nirvana. Nirvana is a psychological state of mind. Its not a place like heaven, its not something that's not here— IT IS HERE in the middle of the turmoil, what's called "samsara," the whirlpool of life conditions. That nirvana is what? (it) is the condition when you are not compelled by desire or by fear or by social commitments. When you hold your center and act out of there."

~ The Power of the Myth, The Journey of the Hero, Joseph Campbell

By being intimate with our center, we instill happiness in our self. We enable ourselves to spiritually serve others—sometimes as listeners, other times as advisors, sources of wisdom, or as models for better living, the heroes we look up to that inspire us to embark on our very own personal journey.

A state of Nirvana is more difficult to ascertain than the condition of Agape, because Agape works within the cognitive, moral and pragmatic framework of the community—a manifestation of Nirvana does not, for it is often devoid of the self which has long served society by conforming. Thus, it tends to push individuals to go beyond the norm and in turn helps society by leading the way into new dimensions. Nirvana is the hero's journey, it is becoming the universal man, it is being the lost man.

Finally, Eros. Eros is the expanded consciousness of the details of one's surroundings, the ability to focus, perceive, sense and more importantly, appreciate the here and now—the moment. It is also the ability to love the one you're with absolutely. Eros is the acuity by which we experience perfection and bliss. It is this agility with which we let go of the bigger picture, so that we may behold the magnificence of the little things. It is the realization that everything is erotic, and that everyone has the potential to turn us on.

Moreover, it is not limited to carnal satisfaction. If anything, it is a combination of temptation, the seduction, and the foreplay, more than the point at which we reach and fall over the pinnacle of ecstasy. It is the journey that is Eros, not the sudden blinding

the art of living the list

l.m