A sleeping person is at their most dangerous in the beginning stages of awakening as confusion between what is real and what is dreamt creates chaos. When one is losing the safety and security of their dream, the fear they feel often creates reactions that are unpredictable, and their desire to fall back into slumber is at its greatest. The strong will continue with the process, the others we return to the cozy throes of the dream, regardless of how painful the nightmare has become.
If you have awakened, you can recall that time when you, too, battled the fear that nearly drove you back to the illusory light of darkness. You can remember the fiction you created in your mind, how you pretended to be fearless, strong, and awakened. You can remember the fear that caused you to grasp, not because of the security of your own reality, but in the dreaded fear of another. You can remember the time when the idea of being alone, truly alone, was so frightening even as you pretended to love aloneness in all of its glory.
You can remember the dream you had of heaven and hell, of sinner and saint, of morals and ethics, and how utterly devoted you were to the ideas implanted in your heart not by the God you worshiped, but by the men who created Him. You will recall how devoted you were to guilt, to seeing selfishness as evil and unholy, and you will understand the fear your brother or sister feels in their first moments of awakening.
You will be reminded even if for the brief nanosecond of time the memory arrives in your present moment. This memory will focus the love that your awakened Being knows, and you will act in the compassion such love demands of you. You will not need force it, but like a caregiver you will assist in whatever way you are guided, and you will feel so much love for your neighbor that you will help either the flower close until it is ready, or help it bloom into the magnificent colors it was destined to shine. In that moment you will become lover, friend, guru, student, all at once.
To me, that is what is meant when Christ said, “Love thy neighbor as I have loved you.” Be rooted in your own sense of self in the place that you are, and be true to the only thing that you know – you. In that way, your neighbor will always get the best of you, and you will always present the best of your Self.
Love, sometimes it’s the ax, sometimes it’s the tree, and others it’s the hand the wields or embraces either.