The Living Universe - Duane Elgin [43]
We are all musicians of the soul, and the optimal condition for any person or society is a high level of creative tension. Think of a violin. If the strings are too tight, it will break the body of the instrument; if the strings are too loose, they will produce no resonance. Only when there is the appropriate level of creative tension can the violin make music. Likewise, to serve our soulful nature it is vital that we find our unique balance between straining so much that we harm the instrument of our being or becoming so slack in our lives that we are no longer engaged in a dance of participation and discovery. To play the music of our lives, we must become skillful musicians of our soul, continually discovering the right amount of creative tension.
With careful attention to our everyday experience, we can cultivate the songlines or musical qualities we want within ourselves—for example, the tempo or pacing of our responses to life, the harmony or disharmony of our communications, the degree to which we improvise in our interactions with others or, alternately, stick to classical scores and behaviors. We each bring a different songline to the larger orchestration that is the universe. Our orchestration matches our character and consciousness and is tuned through our bodily experience, emotions, and mental qualities. We participate in a cosmic symphony as a vast number of individual songlines come together in a new expression at every moment.
A Body of Love
The vibrations of sound, light, and knowing-resonance at the foundations of the universe convey a feeling tone. When skilled meditators from diverse traditions reach into the finest essence of reality, to the very foundations of existence, they report a common experience. The feeling-tone at the foundations of the universe is not a gray mechanical hum devoid of feeling; instead, it is a subtle resonance of aliveness and love.
With love at the foundations of the universe, it is understandable that love is a core theme of the world’s wisdom traditions. The Encyclopedia of Religion states, “. . . many great figures have argued that love is the single most potent force in the universe, a cosmic impulse that creates, maintains, directs, informs, and brings to its proper end every living thing.”13
Christianity is founded on the understanding that love is the essence of God and that our supreme task is to cultivate our capacity to bring a loving presence into this world. “Whoever does not love does not know God, because God is love” (I John 4:8). “God is love, and anyone who lives in love, lives in God, and God lives in him” (I John 4:16).
The Christian usage of the term agape (selfless and unconditional love) comes directly from the teachings of Jesus. When asked what was the greatest commandment, Jesus said “‘Love the Lord your God with all your heart and with all your soul and with all your mind.’ This is the first and greatest commandment. And the second is like it: ‘Love your neighbor as yourself.’ All the Law and the Prophets hang on these two commandments.” (Matthew 22:37—41). As we extend our love into the world, it mirrors the love that God has for creation. In the words of the fourteenth-century English mystic, Julian of Norwich, “We have been loved from before the beginning.”14 We are created from love for love.
Islam celebrates Ishq, or the divine love of God. This is also the focus of Sufis, who see the universe as a projection of God, whose essence is love. In turn, Sufism is often referred to as the “religion of love.” The great Sufi philosopher and mystic Ibn al-Arabi saw God