LOVE'S SUPREME POWER

　"THERE is a great power in the universe which has never been subject to the analytical scrutiny of laboratories, which cannot be resolved by chemicals or by scalpels, yet it is so real that it transcends all other forces which have been measured and weighed and dissected."

　Silver Birch is referring to the power of love. "That love," he goes on, "is deathless because it is part of the Great Spirit, the creative spirit of all life, part of the power which has fashioned life; it is indeed the very breath and the very essence of life. And wherever love exists, sooner or later those who are united by its willing bonds will find one another again despite all the handicaps and obstacles and impediments that may be in the way."

　On one occasion, Silver Birch was asked: "You say, "The only bond between those who have passed over is love.' What is the position when A truly loves B, but A's love is not reciprocated by B, and they have both passed over? Is A separated from B because of this, or is he burdened, so to speak, by the nearness of A because of this rather one-sided, but sincere, attachment?"

　"That," said the guide, "is a very good question, but the word 'love' is one of the most misused ones in your world. I hear them sometimes say: 'Oh, give my love to so and so, whom they intensely loathe. And many others, perhaps carried away by infatuation, and let me be quite honest, by physical passion, think that the attraction is one of love.

　"First let us be clear: the real love is the love of selfless-ness; the love that seeks nothing for itself, and in its highest form embraces the whole of humanity. You are not an evolved soul until you can say, because you believe it, 'I love all mankind.'

　"That is an ideal, and your world is a long way from it. But there is the love, the undeniable love, between man and woman who are complementary to one an-other, that is, they are two in form, but one in purposeーthey harmonise, they are indeed, as your poet has expressed it, 'Two hearts that beat as one.' Now, where that love has found itself, there is never any separation. Those whom the natural law has joined by love can never be sundered in your world or in mine.

　"Where there is that love, and here I am afraid I am going to be controversial, it is always reciprocated. There are aspects of affection, devotion, the desire to serve, maternal instincts, which are believed to be love, but the real love, that only comes once to each man or woman, whether on earth or in the world of spirit, is always reciprocal. The problem does not arise, for in our world, in the fullness of time, each finds the half of its own being."

　"Not necessarily on earth, but they are in the world of spirit," was the reply.

　"One of the two may know about it before the other," it was suggested to Silver Birch.

　He replied: "But the two halves instinctively, because they are two halves, must recognise one another. That does not happen in your world always because your vision, regarding things of the spirit, is often blind."

　"Physical things could stop it," said somebody.

　"Yes, physical circumstances," agreed Silver Birch, "but real love is so magnetic, is so overwhelming in its attraction, that it must find itself and claim itself, when once you have got rid of the imperfections of the earth which were the deterrents to recognition.

　"Love takes many forms, ranging from friendship founded on sympathetic attraction and mutual interest, to the supreme heights where, without thought of self, it seeks to serve wherever it can," said Silver Birch, in his reply to someone who asked for his definition of love. "Love is a word which is misused in your world," the guide went on. "Very often those who use it do not mean love at all. It is mistaken for the activities of the senses when there is only the desire for gratification of certain instincts. But love as I understand it is a part of the spirit stirring within, seeking expression when it realises its kinship with its divine creator.

　"The greatest love is the love that has no trace of selfish-ness, that does not seek in any way to perform any action because it will bring some satisfaction to the individual, That is human love in its greatest aspect. It is the spirit that has enthused all who desire to uplift mankind, to help the needy, to sustain the weak, to fight the vested interests that prevent the unfortunate from extracting the beauty that life could offer them.

　"All who, in their own land and in foreign lands, have sought with altruistic motive to raise the standard of mankind, to make it aware of its infinite potentialities, are exhibiting love in its finest form. There are degreesーwhen the same spirit animates a man or woman to serve the object of his or her affection. That need not be selfish; it can be unselfish.

　"And there is the lowest kind of love, the love that is restricted, that desires to protect and help only the ones to whom it feels an attraction and feels no pity, no mercy, no sympathy and no compassion for strangers. Divine love covers the universe. It is love that has shaped its course, it is love that has regulated its evolution, it is love which is part of the divine beneficence, it is love which actuates all those advanced spiritual beings who, forfeit-ing all that they have gained by their attainment, return to your cold, grey, unattractive world to give service to those who need it."