Elephant in the Room

We move from ignorance to recognition to acceptance to awareness; but still fall back to our old thinking. We deny the truths that we know and continue living in the self-centeredness that was our past. We know the nature of I Am and Oneness and Creation, but choose to still dwell in the thoughts of the ego.

It gets progressively harder to deny what looms so large. The elephant is in the room. We all see it. We know about love versus fear, peace versus contention, forgiveness versus resentment; we know the loving choices we need to make, yet still dwell in the lies of denial, bound by the ego, pretending the elephant is not there.

The ego is tricky. The old thoughts and behaviors are the ego's most prized possessions. The ego will do anything in its power to dissuade us from the thoughts, and the subsequent actions, of love. The more we risk to live the way of love, the harder the ego fights back to regain attention and control. The ego is as a toddler, perceiving a need for an ever-increasing amount of power. Love, peace, and contentment are the ego's greatest foes.

The paths we walk are different, but the destination is the same. There are many more commonalities than differences. This is one truth the ego likes to befog. Obscured by confusion, doubt, and a desire to be unique, the ego tells us the path we have chosen and are walking is the One True Path. This is patently false. People from many religions, traditions, and belief systems are coming together with the common aims of love and peace.

When we choose to focus on the similarities, in full recognition that we are indeed One, it becomes possible to love and accept differing viewpoints. If love is the goal, the only goal, we can come together in this goal, seeking, discovering, and practicing a shared loving intent.

The separatist outlook is not loving. It denies the basic truth of loving Oneness. It creates, rather than removes, the walls that stand in the way of love. Love is open and accepting, never closed nor judgmental. When this is not apparent, seeking a higher understanding of love yields the clarity sought.

The ego enjoys creating distractions to stand in our way and to block our view of the truth. To allow any distraction that is not based on love is unloving. Granted, this can be a difficult pattern to set aside, but it is surely possible, as all is possible.

Test every thought for its lovingness before allowing it to make a home in you. Fear, doubt, shame, confusion, anger, lack, loss, sickness – none of these thoughts are from love. Invite love to escort these thoughts from you. Give them no more attention than is necessary to invite them to leave.

The solution to all these ego tricks is the same. When we consciously and deliberately fill our minds with thoughts of love, the ego loses the power to obscure our view or to keep us from walking the path of loving peace.

Open your eyes of love, invite the thoughts of the ego to leave, and look at the truths of love and peace. Then act. Act in love, and only in love. And all the world will change.

It's not so easy for most of us to live these truths, but we must. It becomes increasingly more pressing that we stop ignoring the truths we know to be true and live them. To theorize is not enough. To speak these thoughts is not enough. We must live the way of love.

Even in the interactions of those we love most, of those we feel the highest level of connection and oneness with, the ego-centered selves attempt to wrest control and take center stage. The ego loves attention, loves to be heard, craves the power of being the controller of our thoughts.

We wake in the morning and commit to love. But then we interact with others, with their loving and not-so-loving words and actions, and we forget the commitment to love we made just minutes or hours ago. Love begets love. Fear begets fear. We must strive to be vigilant in our commitment to the way of love.

Love is stronger than fear – always – but fear is sometimes more apparent. Fear filled our pasts. Fear still fills the lives of many we interact with. Fear vies for attention, control, and power. Fear is the way of the world. But, that's changing. The world is moving to a world of love.

The solution to living in fear is truly simple. Choose love. As often as possible, and a little more each day, we choose loving thoughts, intents, words, and actions. We choose love in every situation, as often as we can, and love, slowly and gradually, displaces fear. Fear loses its strength in the presence of love.

The elephant in the room is love. The elephant is oneness. The elephant is God. All these things we know, yet we continue to live as if we didn't. Evolution is dawning. To deny this is not loving. To deny this is harmful and unloving. The time is now. See the elephant. Choose love.