The transition of our love from conditional to unconditional is much like the opening of a Rose. For many eons we have placed our love on the outside of the Rose. The Core of the Rose was a mystery to us. Therefore, it became sacred.

 

From the outside of the Rose, we prayed to the Sacred Center. Some of us even thought that this Sacred Center was deep inside the earth or far above us in the sky. We had not yet remembered that the Center was not above or below. The Center was within.

 

The Center of the Rose, the Center of our SELF, was distant and apart from us, as the world was cruel and distrustful. Therefore, we had to be sure that we protected ourselves from outside forces that we believed were “separate.” 

              

After all, if we were separate from our SELF, then everything else must also be separate. But then…

                                    We were lonely. 

                                                We were isolated.

                                                            We felt unloved and unloving. 

 

Fortunately, this loneliness and need for love drove us to go “inside” to see what lay within the “Center of the Rose.” And so we began the long journey to the center of the Rose - the center of our SELF. At first, this journey was frightening because we were accustomed to thinking of ourselves as being outside of the Rose, outside of our SELF.

 

The trek inside seemed long and lonely. 

If we were separate on the outside of the Rose, wouldn’t we be more separate on the inside the Rose?

 

But, gradually, we discovered that we were not alone inside the Rose. We came to realize that an entire world existed there, in fact, many worlds. It was our own special reality. But was it really just ours? 

 

Eventually, we became aware that, from the Center of the Rose, the center of our SELF, we could contact the essence of every other Rose that ever was, or ever would be. 

 

               We found that, in the Center of the Rose, there was no time. 

                        In the center of the Rose, there was no space. 

                                    We were not alone! 

                                                We were not separate!

 

We knew that we were also on the outside of the Rose, but we kept our SELF on the inside, where life was safe and love was unconditional.

 

And then it began to happen. 

 

There was a great change on the outside of the Rose. It occurred slowly at first, and then the change became faster and faster. The petals that had been so soft, yet firm, were beginning to change. They were not as solid anymore, nor were they as separate. The outside petals of the Rose were moving away from the Core and pulling the other petals with them.

 

Now, we could not hide as easily within the Core of the Rose. The outside petals were becoming very unsteady. They were threatening to all fall from the Rose and land far, far away from the Core, away from the Rose, and away  from the Core of Ourselves.

 

We could not stop the petals from falling. And, if we became attached to them, we, too, would fall away from our Core.  Now everyone had to journey to the Center of the Rose because the changes outside were happening faster and faster.

 

But we were safe deep within ourselves. We were no longer alone. We were with everyone else who had found their way to the Center of their Core, the Core of their Rose. 

 

But were we protected from the outside? 

Could we really hide from what was happening outside of us?

 

All the petals were falling away now, and we were no longer protected from the “outside” because there was no ”outside.” 

 

As each petal fell from our Rose, our Essence, our SELF, we began preparing ourselves for the “new world” that awaited us.

       In this NEW world

               There were NO petals,

                        There was NO outside,

                                    There was NO separation.

 

And then, all the petals were gone. 

 

We were no longer IN the Center. 

We WERE the Center. 

 

There was no longer a place to hide, nor was there a reason because there was NO separation. There was no OUTSIDE or ABOVE or BELOW or WITHIN because there was NO measure of distance or space. There was no fearful future or sorrowful past because there was NO time. 

There was NO core because there was NO exterior.

              

               There was only NOW.

                        There was only HERE.

 

As we looked around us, we could see that there were still Roses that appeared to be independent from us. However, when we placed our attention upon them, they lovingly and willingly opened their Core to us, as we did to them. 

              

There were no secrets, 

                        There was no fear, 

                                    There was only Unity and Unconditional Love.

Written by Suzanne Lei
Arcturian High Council