Romans 8:39

“ Nothing outside of us has the power to limit our capacity to give and receive love. “

THE ENLIGHTENED SEX MANUAL

Our refusal to trust is often grounded in the past: We were abused as a child. We were jilted by an ex-lover. Our partner has been selfish, distracted, closed down, or insensitive.

It is very important to address these realities in our lives through intervention, communication, therapy, supportive friends, wise teachers, and our own personal inquiry and exploration. In ad- dition, it is often necessary to protect ourselves - physically and emotionally - from abusive and destructive relationships.

Even so, we eventually learn that emotional closure is our own action. We can be responsible for it. In any moment, we can choose to open or to close. Nothing outside of us has the power to limit our capacity to give and receive love. Even while pointing out perpetrators and working to heal the wounds we have suffered in the past, if our heart is not open, we are simply refusing to trust the deepest depth of our being. We are refusing to express our open and infinite na- ture. We are refusing to live as love in this present moment.

Love's light wants to express itself through our bodies. But even though our deepest self wants to open and live as love, our superficial self is afraid. So we hold back the spontaneous and powerful expression of love flowing through our bodies. We do this primarily by suppressing our breath.

Breath is the way our bodies make love with God. When we are willing to be love, then we are willing to breathe love. When we are unwilling to be love, when we resist the spontane- ous expression of our deep and natural openness of being, then we suppress our breath. Our belly constricts. Our heart tightens. Inside, we tie ourselves in knots and become endarkened. Our en- tire body clenches the flow of energy that wants to shine through us. We suffer our refusal of divine openness. We suffer our refusal to live as love.