Then, in the writing exercise, the Great Creator answered my questions with a question. It said, “Why do you do what you do, Andy? Are you trying to make money or are you trying to serve the people? I have always said that when service is in your heart, money will take care of itself. That’s my first question. Where is your heart?”

I answered, “I think my heart is in both places. I believe that we are all one, that as I serve others, I concurrently serve myself.”

As I wrote this, my heart filled with anger. I don’t know why, but I think it was the Great Creator talking to me, preparing for my day’s lesson. I thought about an old roommate that I had had and how angry I was with him. I felt he had insulted me, belittled me, used me. And I was bitter. I could not let it go. All these thoughts flooded my mind as I wrote the paragraph above. Then the Great Creator spoke again.

“Andy, let go of your anger. It is an illusion. How can you serve others or yourself when you are angry and self-righteous? Let go of that anger. There is enough disappointment for everyone.

“Also, let go of your jealousy. Be happy for the successes of others. Your success will come when you allow it.”

If I had been angry before, I was even angrier at the Great Creator’s words. I could not believe It would insinuate that I was the cause of my own financial failure. Yes, perhaps I did not have enough love in my heart, and perhaps I was angry and envious of others, but not allowing my own success to come to me? I begged the Great Creator to answer this question.

“Andy, you must put yourself through a great test to purify your heart. Make it pure, for now it is fractured. Fractured hearts block love because they feel too much pain. Allow yourself to love. Give it freely and gratuitously. Love is a gift for everyone - even the beautiful men at the gym (of whom you are envious) - even the mean managers - even the condescending coworkers - give your love, your peace, your understanding, your empathy.”

When the Great Creator answered with these words, I was even more confused. For a long time I have tried to give love to others, and it was humbling to hear that I still needed to work on loving others. Then, as if a pin dropped on my head, I realized something obvious - or rather there was something obvious that I did not know. Something I had forgotten to ask. As I wrote, I could not believe I could have overlooked something so simple. I thought back to First Corinthians 13 in the Christian Bible, which defines love for Christians. But I had to realize that I am not a Christian, and therefore, I had lost that definition of love. It struck me as funny - I didn’t even know what love is! So, I asked. I asked the Great Creator to tell me what love is. And the Great Creator responded in the following words.

“That is a question that is not asked enough! Everyone thinks they know what love is. Love is the opposite of all illusion - it is the ultimate and only reality. It is beauty that makes the ugly beautiful and teaches that nothing is ugly. It is the joy that heals all sorrow and teaches that joy exists for all things regardless of circumstance. It is the link that unites separate people and teaches that they were never separate. Love is hope in the presence of fear. It is forgiveness in the presence of anger and guilt. Love is as multifaceted as God - and indeed is God. Always look for love. You can see it everywhere.”

I have to admit, I was amazed at the Great Creator’s response. I had always considered a laundry list of good qualities like hope and peace and joy of which love was a part. But I had never considered that love could be any and all of the whole of goodness and reality. This definition seemed so clear. It didn’t matter what my financial status was. It really doesn’t matter. My joy does not come from money - it comes from love, and love is all there is! And if love is all there is, how can there be anything but joy? Any sorrow, pain, and anguish I feel is only an illusion in this life filled with illusion - and that even during these illusory feelings of sadness we can all - indeed we all do - feel immense joy within our spirits. And tapping into our spirits, living congruently with our spirits, is the way to find joy in our lives. Letting go of illusion and embracing the ultimate and only reality is the beauty of love.

But I still had another question for the Great Creator. Although many describe life as an illusion, I told the Great Creator that life certainly seems real… that life is overwhelming sometimes even as an illusion. I told the Great Creator that I felt dull stress from life, and sometimes don’t know how to cope with it. Then, the Great Creator answered.

“Yes, life is an illusion, but the fact that it exists even as an illusion serves an important purpose to your soul’s development. Even the dull stress serves your soul’s purpose - and you will only feel it until it no longer serves you.

“You see, your focus has been how to make a lot of money, and even you realize your desires for self-importance, your desires for revenge on those that have actually served your growth process by doing and saying things that you perceived as hurtful.

“And now you have a blog. What can you say that people really need to hear? How can you express your love - indeed all love - in a way that serves humanity?

“Your society has problems. Your own argument about peace in the Middle East demonstrates the great power of words to understand others and invoke emotion to bring people back to the ultimate reality of love. So what can you say to help others? How can humanity’s focus redirect itself to the issues of the day rather than ire at politicians? How will you heal the world, Andy?

“And accomplishing this great feat, if you choose to make it your life purpose, do you think others will not pay you for that? Do you honestly believe there is no reward for such a contribution? There is, and it is immense.

“That is why love is important to you and your quest. That is why you must redirect your live to love before you can allow your riches to come forth.”

That was the end of my automatic writing session for the day, but I knew I learned a lot from it. There are no results guarantees in the world, save that love is all there is. Many people today talk about the law of attraction to attain that which they want into their lives. But what of love? What of love as the Great Creator defines it above?

We have much to gain in offering love to others, for as I said above, we are all connected. Even Jesus once said “that which you do to the least of my brethren you do to Me.”

Will you join me in a quest to give love? Will you join me so that together we can conduct this spiritual experiment and see what love - and God - really mean when translated from the words above into thought, emotion, and action?