“The soul of our happiness may be—love. This love may be so fine and great and simple and it so fills our life that it leaves no room for pain, as light crowds out darkness. It may, with its Midas touch, turn even our trials and troubles into the gold of sweetness, strength and consolation. It may stand ever between us and the world—as a bulwark keeps back the sea. It may become to us an angel of hope holding our hand with gentle pressure when the clouds hang low, sustaining us when the way of life seems hard.” ~ William George Jordan
While happiness is composed of many qualities – joy, appreciation, peace and so on – it is, at its core, love. Love is an incredibly powerful quality that intensifies all it touches. Properly channeled or contained, love’s intense power works wonders. It inspires the most hardened of hearts, uplifts the most depressed of spirits, all the while burning away that which is not consistent with its nature. Love is the penultimate purifier.
Love, like electricity, can be dangerous if it is ungrounded and not properly contained within a conduit of expression. Love will consume an entire field of opportunity if left to burn uncontrollably, leaving ashes and tears in its wake. Love’s nature is not destructive or vindictive, yet it is the power that can separate the wheat from the chaff in your field of circumstance. Read the previous sentence once again, for if you truly understand it and put it into practice in your life, you will never need to resort to judgment again.
Judgment thrives in the absence of love. Judgment is an inefficient and dangerous tool for those who have forgotten how to use love. People judge because for these two primary reasons: (1) they are unaware that love would handle the situation with both speed and accuracy or (2) they have heard that love is sufficient to the task but they do not trust that it will clarify the matter to their satisfaction. So they take the matter into their own hands and like the vigilantes that roamed the Wild West, they call ’em as they see ’em, shooting first and asking questions later.
But why?
Love is up to the task. Its fires burn in the core of every person on earth, no matter how little of it they allow to shine through their body, mind or heart. When you acknowledge that core and accept nothing less, the intervening debris in body, mind and heart can quickly burn away if the person stands close to the fire with his trust in you. If, however, he runs away, repelled by the pressure that comes with the purifying force of love, he will have his reward, maintaining his rulership in the hell of his own making. No judgment necessary. The radiant expression of love is sufficient to the task.
When you remain true to love, happiness follows. Happiness comes not from following your heart, neither does it come from doing what you love. True, lasting, ever-present happiness comes only on the coattails of the radiation of love and blessing into the world you center. It is in this light that you see why the injunctions delivered thousands of years apart to “love thy neighbor as thyself” and to “…[l]ove your enemies, bless them that curse you, do good to them that hate you” are so incredibly powerful and eternally practical. Strip them of the religious overlays whose varnish separates the feel of the true wood from the admirer and you have two of the best tools you will ever come across in life.
Take this approach in every interaction you undertake from this moment forward and you will taste of a happiness that most relegate to some mysterious afterlife. You were not born to simply pursue happiness for all the days of your life; you were born to be happy and the means by which this state is known is present within you here and now. My great hope today is that I have explained this in a way that gives you the courage and the understanding necessary to give love a chance.
Pay no attention to the predictable naysayers and doubters who sit on the sidelines and murmur to themselves “he doesn’t have a chance in hell,” instead, have compassion on them for they likely fought valiantly at one time, but gave up without ever knowing the indomitable nature of love or the sweet taste of a victorious and happy life.
Gregory Hake 
This was a very elegant description of why judgement is unnecessary and damaging. There is a method of determining rightness that is far more accurate, and does not depend on the limited knowledge that we as humans possess. Are you all-knowing? Do you have understanding of all the subtle reasons why people do things? I don’t, and I understand that two people may each do a thing that is exactly the same on the surface, but their reasons for doing that thing may be very different. How then can you judge either of them? You can’t, but if you follow the directions you gave today, they would then judge themselves based on what is inside, not on the appearance.
Thank you for outlining this, between your description and Jordan’s quotation, I feel like this could be a great beginning for anyone who wished to truly “give love a chance”.
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My pleasure, Colin. Thank you in turn for your excellent analysis of the limitations in vision that so frequently lead to poor judgment!
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Your explanation has inspired a deep courage within my heart, Thank-you my friend.
I can only hope to be so Masterful in expressing this to the world I center today, and forever more.
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You can…just take your time!
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This is beautifully and practically put, although I suppose no degree of eloquence can fully explain this central theme and Reality of Being. Equally, no person can quantify or possess love. We must, in fact, be possessed BY love so that there is no other option for us in the core of our expression. As you emphasize, love is up to the task – any task! And so are we if we know love to be who we are in the most central sense. Wonderful post!
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Judgement is such an accepted habit. When I read history I sometimes wonder what actually happened. What would be the account if it wasn’t prejudiced by our dependence on judgement. It takes strength to trust love because the majority would call you a simpleton or naive. It has been hidden in plain sight not because of trickery but it is simply overlooked. It doesn’t take cunning to find happiness it takes faith and trust in the love. George Jordans description of love’s protection is compelling; your words “Love’s nature is not destructive or vindictive, yet it is the power that can separate the wheat from the chaff in your field of circumstance.” corroborate the strength and intelligence of letting love adjudicate.
Thank you for this adept description of our rightful endowment.
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Fabulous. Beautiful. Poignant. That love and true happiness is within each person’s grasp, yet most often not even reached for, is the ultimate irony in the world today. So much unnecessary suffering, toiling, strife, hatred, when the answer is so simple. Thank you for your words this morning.
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Isn’t it ironic!?!
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Your explanation is excellent, thank you. A clarion call to join those who have proven in their living that love is the supreme power. It is the force that has never known defeat.
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Glad to sound the ol’ horn!
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You have explained the power of love so eloquently. William George Jordan can only be smiling down on you with great appreciation for your efforts to lift his words spoken so long ago. This post is powerful and ignites a great deal of passion, courage and remembrance in my heart. Let the fires of love clarify our hearts and the worlds we center, sending self righteous judgment to the hell from which it came. Let love be the power that moves us forward from this day. What a beautiful release to know that love can take care of clearing the debris around u’s if we just stay centered. This could save so many hours of effort by so many and lift the burden of “trying” to do what is not ours to do. I will enjoy allowing love to be the force that moves me. Great post, this can be read over and over to find new meaning. Thank you.
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Let, let, let indeed! It’s the ONLY way!
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