I continue to read further in Ilia Delio’s wonderful book, The Unbearable Wholeness of Being. This Franciscan Sister is trying to show how to start with evolution as the way to understand how our world and ourselves came to be. She wants us to realize evolution is a process and the process is still unfolding. Human beings are not over against or outside the natural world, but rather we are a part of it. And finally, she wants us to know that God is a part of this whole process---whether we know it or not.
I have learned so much from the book and am still trying to absorb the teachings and figure out how to incorporate it into my heretofore ways of understanding God, the world and myself. Key to the whole enterprise is love. That appeals to me. I have always liked how the writer of John’s gospel and epistles said that God is love. That appealed to me as a description of who God is and how God works in our world. I think that it is true, even if I cannot fully understand or articulate it. Delio is helping me.
Let me share a few lines from her book. Sharing these helps me think about it and, hopefully, enables you to have some tidbits for inspirational reflection. The first couple sentences set the stage for what Delio is doing. She tells us “Love is the law of evolution written on the human heart. We are created to love and to evolve love.” I find it intriguing to know that love is the law of evolution. Effectively, Delio says love is what it is all about! If the universe has a “why,” it is love. How did the universe come to exist? Love. Why does the universe exist? Love. Where is the universe heading? To more love.
Furthermore, this law of evolution is written on human hearts. You don’t need to ask if it is written on your heart. It is. Of course, you can neglect it or deflect it. That is called sin. Most of us know enough about sin. Maybe we can say that sin is love gone wrong. This is what humans can do. We can deform love, instead of letting love reform and transform. When we screw up love, we get devolution instead of evolution. Delio is correct. We are created to love. That is the “why” of our existence.
We are created to evolve love. How’s that for a purpose statement. I think I will adopt it as my vison statement for my life. The purpose of life is to evolve love. Talk about a mission! I can agree to do it. That is the easy part. Ok, I will evolve love. Now the question that is more pressing is: how do I do it?
Delio offers some helpful advice at this point. I will share a lengthier quotation that begins to talk about how to do it. She notes, “Love lives in the depths of evolving life, but to know this love we must withdraw from the busy world, enter quietly within ourselves, cherish solitude, and return to nature as our kin. Conscious love requires the space of simplicity where love can dwell by letting go of what we try to possess. It needs the peace of solitude, coming home to ourselves where we find the love that creates and sustains us in our innermost being. We must surrender within where God is seeking to be born.”
This process appeals very much to me. To discover this love means withdrawing from the busy world. In fact, sometimes I find this busy world to be crazy. To discover the love that lives in the depths of evolving life means I have to withdraw. We must enter quietly within ourselves. This is countercultural for so many of us. Our culture has a form of SDHD. It is driven, distracted and, often, disordered. We will need to cherish solitude.
Solitude is not an extravert-introvert thing. All of us can do it. Solitude means to be with myself long enough and quietly enough that I can discover the love that lies deep within. If we do that, we have a chance to return to nature. Most of us live in a world that is so artificial, we never have a sense for nature. We live in an unnatural environment. Personally, I know the stark contrast of my own life having grown up on a farm and now only occasionally being in nature. Most of the time, I see it from my window. When it is dark, I change it by turning on the light. When it is cold, I change it by turning on the heat. And so it goes.
She continues by saying we need the peace of solitude to find this love that lives in the depth of evolving life. I like the image of coming home to ourselves. It is within that we discover that God is seeking to be born. Let’s give birth to that God who will turn out to be love. Delio is saying that love is seeking to be born in us. Let’s not abort it. And then she makes her final point for this inspirational piece.
“Love is not a marketing tool; it is a form of worship, a transcendent spiritual power. It is the deepest creative power in human nature. It is bearing life as a gift. It responds to the rich fullness, the variety, the fecundity of life itself. It ‘knows’ the inner mystery of life and enjoys life as an inestimable fortune in a way that materialism or consumerism could never fathom.” This is profound. But I like her claim that love is not a marketing tool.
It is time for the profound inner work of giving birth to love. And in giving birth to love, we will participate fully in the work of evolution, which the is work of God who is love.
I have learned so much from the book and am still trying to absorb the teachings and figure out how to incorporate it into my heretofore ways of understanding God, the world and myself. Key to the whole enterprise is love. That appeals to me. I have always liked how the writer of John’s gospel and epistles said that God is love. That appealed to me as a description of who God is and how God works in our world. I think that it is true, even if I cannot fully understand or articulate it. Delio is helping me.
Let me share a few lines from her book. Sharing these helps me think about it and, hopefully, enables you to have some tidbits for inspirational reflection. The first couple sentences set the stage for what Delio is doing. She tells us “Love is the law of evolution written on the human heart. We are created to love and to evolve love.” I find it intriguing to know that love is the law of evolution. Effectively, Delio says love is what it is all about! If the universe has a “why,” it is love. How did the universe come to exist? Love. Why does the universe exist? Love. Where is the universe heading? To more love.
Furthermore, this law of evolution is written on human hearts. You don’t need to ask if it is written on your heart. It is. Of course, you can neglect it or deflect it. That is called sin. Most of us know enough about sin. Maybe we can say that sin is love gone wrong. This is what humans can do. We can deform love, instead of letting love reform and transform. When we screw up love, we get devolution instead of evolution. Delio is correct. We are created to love. That is the “why” of our existence.
We are created to evolve love. How’s that for a purpose statement. I think I will adopt it as my vison statement for my life. The purpose of life is to evolve love. Talk about a mission! I can agree to do it. That is the easy part. Ok, I will evolve love. Now the question that is more pressing is: how do I do it?
Delio offers some helpful advice at this point. I will share a lengthier quotation that begins to talk about how to do it. She notes, “Love lives in the depths of evolving life, but to know this love we must withdraw from the busy world, enter quietly within ourselves, cherish solitude, and return to nature as our kin. Conscious love requires the space of simplicity where love can dwell by letting go of what we try to possess. It needs the peace of solitude, coming home to ourselves where we find the love that creates and sustains us in our innermost being. We must surrender within where God is seeking to be born.”
This process appeals very much to me. To discover this love means withdrawing from the busy world. In fact, sometimes I find this busy world to be crazy. To discover the love that lives in the depths of evolving life means I have to withdraw. We must enter quietly within ourselves. This is countercultural for so many of us. Our culture has a form of SDHD. It is driven, distracted and, often, disordered. We will need to cherish solitude.
Solitude is not an extravert-introvert thing. All of us can do it. Solitude means to be with myself long enough and quietly enough that I can discover the love that lies deep within. If we do that, we have a chance to return to nature. Most of us live in a world that is so artificial, we never have a sense for nature. We live in an unnatural environment. Personally, I know the stark contrast of my own life having grown up on a farm and now only occasionally being in nature. Most of the time, I see it from my window. When it is dark, I change it by turning on the light. When it is cold, I change it by turning on the heat. And so it goes.
She continues by saying we need the peace of solitude to find this love that lives in the depth of evolving life. I like the image of coming home to ourselves. It is within that we discover that God is seeking to be born. Let’s give birth to that God who will turn out to be love. Delio is saying that love is seeking to be born in us. Let’s not abort it. And then she makes her final point for this inspirational piece.
“Love is not a marketing tool; it is a form of worship, a transcendent spiritual power. It is the deepest creative power in human nature. It is bearing life as a gift. It responds to the rich fullness, the variety, the fecundity of life itself. It ‘knows’ the inner mystery of life and enjoys life as an inestimable fortune in a way that materialism or consumerism could never fathom.” This is profound. But I like her claim that love is not a marketing tool.
It is time for the profound inner work of giving birth to love. And in giving birth to love, we will participate fully in the work of evolution, which the is work of God who is love.
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