On lifelong devotion, breaking open to love without fear, and discovering that once you are seen, you cannot be unseen.

A reflection from the archives on the practice of an open heart, moving beyond external validation, and resting in the radiant, unshakeable light of presence.

There is a song spiraling and rising inside of me, a song about the moon. “Sarah’s moon,” my parents crooned when I was small, my most treasured childhood memory. Watching the rise and fall of each crest over the familiar hillsides, riding the waxing and the waning month after month, how many countless nights did I send my prayers to the fullest of moons? How many sparkling moments of resonance have I spent gazing at the thinnest crescent? How many times in a foreign land did I count upon the familiar weight of the moon in my palm?

All the ways that I have loved the moon show me now what love means. Love bubbling up inside of me, expanding within my heart…it changes me, molds me, frees me. Love that blooms within me also has the power to expand beyond me and touch the world, mold a child, heal a friend, bloom a profound connection. The pulsating love radiating from my heart is like the softness of mist rising above autumn’s forests and mountains. The vibrating love emanating from my heart center is akin to the moon casting light in the dark of night. Opening to that love, willing to see because of the light that is cast, I am transformed by the presence of that love, and I in turn have the power to transform others because of it too.

When pain occurs due to the arising of natural causes and conditions, doubt clouds the light of the moon, the fog descends, and it becomes harder to see both myself and anyone else. Perhaps the closeness of the pain, the stench of the decaying cocoon we wrap around ourselves to protect ourselves from that vivid light, perhaps that becomes such a familiar sensation that we choose to return to it again and again even though it is not what we truly long for.

Does not the butterfly long for release? Does not the flower yearn to bloom in summer sunshine? Our hearts are the same. We not only long for love, but we deserve the shining presence of its warmth in our hearts.

To love is to be willing to be touched by the world, which means we are willing to be broken open again and again when we experience circumstances that are painful. To remain willing to open in the face of devastation takes bravery, requires courage, demands steadfast loyalty to a wakeful mind. Choosing a path in life that encourages the strengthening of that mind then becomes the gift that allows the heart to perpetually open.

When I look at the moon, I see the face of pure presence. When I feel the moon blooming in my heart, I feel the presence of the sacred. Though the moon is far, its vibrancy is perpetually present within my body. To hold this tender, generative vibration, this fire inside my very center, is to touch the core of life‘s essence, continually. Not for the faint of heart, this practice. It takes persistent equanimity to stay present in the face of every flutter of the heart’s wings.

The cascading waterfall of beauty that flows from the open heart is unceasing, never wavering, and always accessible. This sensation of love generated outside of the bounds of fear or hope is instigated by purity, descends like blessings, and is a gift of perpetuity, a gift for all the years of diligence in pursuit of inner peace. Though the tangible touch of the moon is ever distant, its vibrancy is ever present at the center of me, and therefore the deep wellspring of life force energy that is my true inheritance is ever at my fingertips.

Though the moon, and that which inspires me, are especially far from me, their presence touches me continuously. This means I am no longer looking for external salvation, no longer seeking validation from another, no longer yearning for recognition, because I have been seen by the moon. Once you are seen by the moon, you cannot be unseen, you are no longer invisible, and every breath is an inhalation and exhalation of love.

When you can feel the moon in your heart, compassion for yourself and others naturally arises. There is no limit to how much love can shine, and no definition that is needed to define. The love just shines and that is enough. To move beyond hope and fear in love means being willing to accept what is given, and to give what is desired, without holding back. This liberates cycles of oppression and repression. This inner liberation becomes a gift to oneself and others. The softness of the moon‘s light radiates and relaxation becomes possible. Relaxation engenders comfort with what is instead of the perpetual fight with what is. This comfort is soothing in a vastly different way than the traditional forms of protective comfort that only dilute the truer vibrancy of the moon’s radiant love.

A deeply intertwined sensation of spiritual connection comes when we open ourselves to this depth of love. There is no separation anymore between us and that which resources us.

Therefore, oh moon, the song which I sing to thee, is a song that has no need, only desire to rise up for the sake of sharing the love between us.

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