Laws and Life

"Perfect love casts out fear." -- The Bible, 1 John, 4:18

What are the laws by which I live my life? What are the rules that I think must be followed to survive... the rules of health, of relationships, of finances, or of friendship? When those rules are broken, either by myself or someone else, what are the laws of punishment that I believe are just and inevitable? And is it possible to have inflexible laws, and punishment for breaking those laws, without a great deal of fear? And if perfect love casts out this fear that seems to exist below the surface of everything I do in the world, then this Love must be beyond the laws I think govern my world. It must not be dependent on anyone or anything.

What are the laws by which you live your life? What do you fear will happen if you don't follow those rules? Who do you think you offend by not playing by those rules? Who do you think approves of you when you do play it safe? And where would the world you see be without all of us adhering to these rules? Like the age-old question, "If a tree falls in the forest and there is no one there to hear it, does it make a sound?"

Perfect Love casts out fear in my life when I realize I always have a choice. What do I value with the devotion that is my attention? What do I give substance to in my life by my acceptance? It seems to me that Perfect Love is another name for the Field of Awareness that everything lives and moves and has its Being in. I can live my life in a contracted state of awareness, a tunnel vision that seems limited and restricted by the world around me. Or I can widen back, choosing the larger sense of Self that includes everyone and everything. This Field of Awareness does not exclude anyone or anything and is not limited by anyone or anything, and so there is no fear in it.

Perfect Love casts out fear because in the Presence of this Awareness, fear doesn't even exist. As I give my attention and acceptance to this larger Self and allow it to live my life, all of the laws of life that I followed so avidly and feared so greatly are exposed... and they are nothing at all.