Thursday, April 22, 2010

Questioning Love


Recently, one of my readers wrote to me. This is what she said.

“You make love seem like the most powerful force in the universe. If it is, why are we so prone to getting it wrong or running away from it and not to it as often as we breathe?”

I’m grateful she asked and would encourage you as well to write to me and ask or speak what is on your mind. I’ve learned many people have similar questions and concerns but are often afraid to give voice to them. It is my desire to comfort you and to offer you ways to see life that aid in your ability to see much more of yourself. You are loves desire and you are worthy of love. Of this I am sure.

My response to her is as follows:
I’ve been married to the same woman for over20 years and I have been in several relationships throughout my life. This by no means makes me a relationship expert any more than eating for a lifetime makes me a chef. Have I been successful at marriage? I, along with many onlookers seem to think so. What means more to me, though, is that I’ve been successful at relationships and I have many of them. To be clear, my use of the word “relationship” is not meant on any level to be synonymous with “sexual” relationship. A sexual relationship is a type of relationship but it is not the most important type. It is vital that I make this distinction so that you can take my writing in the spirit it is intended.

Relationships are not successful because they last; they are successful because they mature, grow, expand, extend and reproduce. They become remarkable as they make room for more relating without prejudice or possessiveness. The 20 year mark may seem impressive but that is merely a distraction. What’s really impressive is that it didn’t take 20 years for either of us to see the value in a moment which was worthy of a lifetime. And if I look at the 20 years alone, I just might miss the power of each new relationship. Each successful relationship starts at the first encounter, the meet. The moment we see beauty in someone is the moment we decide to make space and permit him or her to alter our existence.

Some marriages didn’t last 20 years. They either ended in death or divorce. Sometimes they are the same. Some marriages are still in their youth and are finding their way. Hopefully I can help you with this next statement. Your marriage is never as important as your relationship. Marriage is a step we introduce into relationship in an attempt to guarantee or require someone to remain with us. To remain is a matter of Love and never law. Valuing law over love is a death sentence. Knowing this will help you succeed. And if divorce is necessary to help you see the beauty of relating then see it as a gift and let Love take you higher and escape the clutches of death.

I believe love is the most powerful force in the universe. Love is always present as is truth and like truth we don't always see it. In these moments, when we don't see truth, we see its alternative --- as if there really is such. What we see is an illusion and depending on the degree of that illusion, it mutates into delusion. Either way deception dominates and we are prone to demonstrate or act out in fear. Fear is what happens when we see love as absent or threatened. Truth and Love go hand in hand. They are both present---omnipresent even.

Why are we prone to running away? Fear incites flight. Why are we prone to getting it wrong? Deception and/or illusion nurtures misunderstanding. These go hand in hand as well. Misunderstanding is the prelude to fear and if we misunderstand what is true, we will run away from Love.

Breathing should demonstrate to us that breath is ever present, always around, always here. In all moments we are breathing and in these moments we are living. None of us like to have our breathing obstructed but sometimes it is. Maybe this is due to allergens, colds, flues, or maybe someone is just suffocating you. This is sometimes called asphyxiation meaning the absence of a pulse. We have no sign of life. Wow, imagine that? No love, no life, No truth, no life, No Life, No love. It just goes on and on and on and on...

So why then do we choose to run? We think it's the fastest way to get away from what we think causes our pain not realizing it's always been the illusion that does it. We can't run from truth. Where would we go? A place where truth is not? There is no place where truth is absent, no place where love is absent. If truth or love is unapparent it is just simply unseen. But when we discover truth and uncover love what we come to realize is this:

All we ever learn is that we misunderstood before.

Love will always give us more than we can give to it. Love is larger than any one of us. It is larger than our desires. Love is inexhaustible and unrepentant in its willingness to extend continuously. Yet when we want more from love than we are willing to give to it, love seems to retreat into scarcity. Love does not really hide from us but this illusion of scarcity and loss is cast when we find ourselves believing we “need” more love. Love does not offer itself in diminished capacity; it is intent upon giving fully withholding nothing. This is a difficult cycle to overcome when we think having more love is the same as seeing more love.
Love by design hides from the blind, but it’s easier to see it when you choose to be it.

It’s reflexive. Love is. It has an involuntary response directly resulting from a sponsoring action. Respond simply means to answer. Love listens and observes with careful attention so as to extend to the object of affection exactly what is necessary to sponsor an elevated sense of consciousness. Love is also reflective. It will mirror truthfully at the angle of incidence. Another way of saying this, “whatever measure you meet, the same measure will be measured back to you.” (a passage taken from a ancient text) Remember, love’s intention is liberation through truthful and authentic relations. Love will mirror to us in a way we demonstrate it. If we find ourselves restricting love’s flow then we imagine and believe that love is limiting. Love will in turn respond with a reflection necessitating an event asking you to choose whether this is really your preference.

When we find ourselves open to a limitless expression of love, Love responds to us with a reflection of streaming possibilities. Love will blossom, expand, and extend herself in unimaginable ways exceeding anything we could ask or think. This is really the love we seek but are often afraid to quest.

There are so many variations and styles of people in the world and when love demonstrates her limitlessness, it does it through the myriad of people possibilities. Each person represents a different love possibility but not only that, each person provides a unique and distinct way for us to see ourselves in brand new dimensions. Seeking or questing for new ways to see and experience life, necessitates the entrance of new people possibility. These are conquests --- our ever expanding opportunities to pursue love through the unfolding potential of our humanity. This is dynamically beautiful, non-repetitive ecstasy in revolution.

Working You Out,
Marquis







PS. I am writing much more on these subjects in an expanded form in my upcoming book. I hope you stay tuned and engaged in this conversation.

Monday, March 8, 2010

Losing My Skill for Fear


Hey In There,

You’ve practiced being afraid for so long, you’ve become good at it. So good that it’s easy. So easy, that you don’t even know you’re doing it and the only evidence you have for your fear is that you don’t know if you’re right or wrong. You’re afraid of being alone and afraid of finding the right person. You’re afraid of changing and afraid if you do something different, you will have abandoned something meaningful. You’re afraid lying and also afraid of being so honest that you’ll believe what you‘ve rejected for so long --- the obvious. You’re afraid of loving completely and totally unsure if your love is sufficient. You’re afraid of being wrong and you’re afraid if you’re right you’ll lose everything you value. You’re afraid of questioning God and afraid to admit your ignorance. You’re afraid of living effortlessly and afraid of working so hard you’ll miss your life. You’re afraid to admit you don’t have it all and afraid to admit you don’t need it all. You’ve actually believed you can go or be somewhere ---ANYWHERE and find God missing so that just makes you afraid to show up.

The evidence for this is clear whenever you are not present. Fear perhaps is not just simply false evidence appearing real. It is proof you have projected and tried to live somewhere in your future. It doesn’t matter how near or distant that future is. Any attempt to excavate yourself from the present moment is proof that you are good at being afraid. It doesn’t matter that you are planning your future. That’s easily a noble excuse just to be distracted and miss who you are and the beauty of what is being. The most efficient way to plan for the future is in the present moment. So rather than focusing on any other moment, why not just optimize being in this one and the necessary resources will find you in each moment just as they have in this one. Trust it. Trust this and fear not.

Fear is senseless…

If you fear death and your death is imminent, what profit is it for you to fear the inevitable? Would that not just cause you to waste the moments of your viability? Your viability, by the way, is irrefutably immanent. You ARE alive NOW. So could death really be upon you? Really? And if you’re afraid of someone other than yourself dying, it’s because you are afraid of missing what you think you COULD have. You can’t lose a past that’s non-negotiable and changeless. All your memories are secure even if you forget them and any future moment can only live in a fantasy. Pay attention NOW and love living.

What was the last thing you were afraid of that destroyed you?

The answer? NOTHING!

Have you become so good at being afraid that you have failed to see your success in simply remaining… being… lasting… continuing… expanding… evolving?

You could just as easily practice being fearless. You do this by just simply loving. You do this by accepting. You do this by choosing not to argue with truth. The truth is here to serve you---serve us. It’s been said, “You will know the truth and the truth will make you free.” If this is true then embracing any truth is the pathway to freedom. Do you think you could not use your fear to judge the truth? Any attempt to judge the truth is an attempt to evidence or give proof to the lie. There is no lie which has proof to it. There is no truth which has the power to harm you. All truth has the power to free you if you “know” it. And if you know something other than the truth, it’s just simply a lie. Don’t believe it; don’t practice the lie anymore. Lose your skill for fear.

The truth is real.
The lie is false.
What is real exists-
What is false does not exist.
The lie does not exist.
Only Truth

Working You Out,

Marquis






Tuesday, December 8, 2009

The Lover


It’s the one who helps you believe what you didn’t believe before

Even if that means you rethinking you

It’s the one who, though you keep breathing, continues to take your breath away

It’s the one who, without disturbance, wakes you while you sleep

The Dream…

It’s the one who caused you to forget your beginning while giving you forever

You can let it all go…

And just Be

It’s the one who, without words, convinced you of your beauty

They didn’t hide their eyes

They didn’t believe the lies – not even yours

It’s the one who gives you the gift of time and doesn’t make you wait

It’s the one who ‘watches’ you change

Like time, it’s a REVOLution –

The Lover in EVOLution

It’s the One…

Whoever, Whenever, Wherever

It’s the One

However Many

It’s the One







Monday, November 23, 2009

Shaddows

To be hidden in the shadow does not erase my existence. If the shadow is there, it will last until a light is cast in a different direction so that the shadow remains but covers me not. Would you shine your light and bring me out of hiding? Would you kiss the frog? Would you...

Love Anyway

Sunday, November 1, 2009

Simply Because I Can


“Withhold not good from who it is due when it is in the power of your hand to do it.”

A wisdom charm and an ancient Hebrew proverb – I like looking at it. Meditating on it. It speaks to me; it makes me think - What makes something good? To who is it owed? Do I owe it!?! Do I have the power to deliver it? Why should I do anything for anybody? Makes me wonder why anybody does anything for anybody.

The one who knows him or herself to be powerful is fully invested in sharing their power. It is only those who believe themselves to be weak, who cultivate weakness or allow it to remain.

I was born into this world as a child who could do nothing for himself. Someone changed my diaper and dirtied their hands. I had done nothing to deserve such favor but they had the power to not leave me dirty. I became hungry. I did nothing to work for my bread and yet they fed me with their power to take away my pangs. Somewhere along the way, I decided I did not want to do what was done for me. I did not want to simply give my good away unless it was to someone who had delivered good to me first. In those moments I believed in my weakness. In those moments I lost my way. My first experience in this world taught me to give where goodness was needed and not necessarily where it was afforded.

I listen for those who cannot hear without me. I write the songs for those who cannot feel the music without me. I write the truth for those who could not identify the lie without me. I take away pain for those who can’t find their comfort without me never wanting to count man’s sins or weakness against them.

Those who have lost their way are overdue for direction. The person lost in grief is overdue for joy. The person lost in confusion is overdue for understanding. The person befuddled in conflict is overdue for peace. Those who are overwhelmed with despair are overdue for hope. Those who carry the burden of their fellow man are always due help to lighten the load.

Those who are lost simply need a Savior. The people we save are not always the people we owe but all of them are due it. There are those who cannot afford my help but what I cannot afford is to leave them without it. Love Anyway

From My Heart
Join Me,

Marquis








Monday, October 12, 2009

Brand New

You have given yourself permission to live through this moment and to continue into the next. You have done this. This moment is peculiar; it is extraordinary; it is beyond fathoming, but what makes it quintessentially intriguing is it has never been before.

This moment is Brand New.

You made it so.

All moments are exactly this way. You have never been here before and there is no sense in requiring yourself to live in the past or relishing in the pain or JOY of a past event. You have not lived through a pain that remained beyond your power to keep it going. Neither have you lavished in a joy which paralyzes the ability to exceed it. Freedom lives beyond your grandest idea and Love lives beyond comparison.

Be Brand New; Take no prisoners; Hold no one captive to your known ideas which are only evidenced in your past.

If you have a Lover
Call it done and start it Over
If you have a Friend
Let them go and begin Again
If you have a Life
Die already and be Born Again






Sunday, October 4, 2009

More Than I Ever Did


Look at the face of someone you love
Experience with them the joy that lives through them in your absence.
Let love happen knowing Love is bigger than your grandest ideas
Love offers more than your awareness can allow.
Limit not the one you Love to be constricted by your ignorance.
Learn from Love.
Live beyond your rules and let Life happen
Breathe Again then Love Again
Never make it like it was
Learn what is becoming
I love you more than I ever did
Less than I ever will