This post is all about the most important realization for any creative work, for any endeavour–indeed for life itself: That, above all, you are loved.
That you, being rooted and grounded in love, may be able to comprehend with all the saints what is the width and length and depth and height—to know the love of Christ which passes knowledge.
Ephesians 3:17-19
Creativity is such a vulnerable thing.
Like that macabre line by Hemingway:
“Writing is easy–just cut a vein and bleed …”
There’s a lot written about creativity.
That creativity is a process, a tension between something you envision and the means of getting there.
Some have written about creativity and depression or despair.
For some, creativity comes out of a set of crazy experiences–a drug or drink binge, a wild lifestyle of self-destruction …
Thomas Merton calls this form of creativity ‘Promethean’, i.e. attempts to steal fire from the gods, but which ultimately leaves one emotionally bankrupt rather than alive and authentically creative.
What you need to create
Someone asked me once, “What do you need to do your best creative work?”
My answer was simple …
“I need to know that I am loved; that I am precious.”
It took a lot of years of self-destruction, and a period of time of psychotherapy to come to that realization.
And that’s why I believe that knowing that you are loved is the first step to any endeavour. To know that you are loved and that you are precious; or, as Henri Nouwen became known for saying, to know you are the beloved.
Being in loving union
Father Lev Gilet was an Orthodox priest and monk. He wrote a number of beautiful books.
One book that I come back to over and over is entitled In Thy Presence. In Thy Presence is written from the perspective of God–it is a personal intimate letter from God to us about His love and how we may enter a life of loving union with God and all of creation.
For those of you who are struggling with lost time, with creative endeavours that are not working out; for those of you who are fixing areas of your life of shame or despair or meaninglessness with substances or experiences, here are some lines from In Thy Presence that you might find inspiring; that may lead you to seeking intimacy with the One Who created you and loves you beyond anything you could ever know. Father Lev Gilet’s words, from the point of view of God, will be in italics.
First off, knowing that you are loved can “overturn and transform your whole life.”
You are loved. These three words, if you truly wish to receive them, can overturn and transform your whole life.
You are loved
Everything flows from this simple truth: You are loved.
At some time, you need to feel, as a shock, the passionate Love that I offer you. … You are loved. Everything flows from that. It is the starting point.
The love of God is a movement that He makes towards you–to unite Himself with you intimately.
My Love for men is a movement of My Self toward them, not simply to be known by them or to be, to a certain extent, imitated by them, but to unite Myself to them, to give Myself to them.
You are loved for who you are–period. Even the most vile person in the eyes of men is deeply loved by and precious to God.
You are loved. Is there anywhere for someone who is vile in the fire of the Burning Bush? A soul, a person who is loved by Me is not vile. You are loved. It is ‘you’ who are loved.
What is this burning bush? It is the fire of God’s love–a fire that burns but doesn’t consume. It is a sacred, holy fire. And it is a fire that burns for all people, for all creation.
Each of us carries a special name, an intimate name, that only God knows. It’s because He has knitted us together, that he places this sacred name upon us. We bear that name, that unique name.
Deepen the worth of that ‘you’. Now, I am no longer speaking to the many. I am not now saying: ‘You are all loved.’ …
Here My child, I am speaking to one person, to yourself. And I name you by a name which I give to no one else.
Yes, I call you by a secret name. From all eternity, this name has been reserved for you. It is a different name from the one by which men call you. it is the name written on a white stone, which no one knows except (if he is attentive to the gift) he who receives it.
The facet of a diamond
You are a facet of the Diamond that is God. You bear uniquely His Image. And there is nothing you can do that can destroy that image, that can nullify the facet that you are.
In the divine thought, it is given to each one of you to discover and make visible to others a different facet of the unique Diamond. You are that facet. Whatever your life has made of you, you are still one of these aspects, a different aspect, of the bond that joins each man to personal Love.
The simple truth of who you are, your identity, is this …
You are a ray of Love, issuing from Love, even if the ray seems shattered.
When you wake in the morning, or when you sit or stand in prayer, or when you set off to begin a task creative or mundane, you must know this …
By what kind of Love, then, are you loved?
I do not say to you: You have been loved. Nor do I say to you: You will be loved.
I did not only love you yesterday or the day before that. I shall not only love you tomorrow or the day after.
It is today, it is now, this minute, that you are loved.
But how often do we question this love?
“Nah–this can’t be! A wretched (enter expletive here ___) like me! No one loves me! I don’t even love myself!
Look at my life! Look at all the wasted years, the dark years, the years I have spent wasting my life, fixing my shame, objectifying and abusing others!”
But God is saying this to you …
Yes, you are loved and remain loved. You are that facet …
This is so in the case of every single person.
‘Truly? In every case?’
Yes, in all cases.
You say, ‘But Lord, how can this be so? Could he who sins against You in the moment of sinning be loved by You?’
Yes, My child.
If I did not continue to love the sinner, would I let him exist before Me?
Love is seated like a beggar at the door of someone who does not love. He waits. He will wait.
No matter what you do …
Even in the act of sinning, you are loved.
Father Lev Gilet writes elsewhere that the Love of God is everywhere. And even in the crude act of prostitution, if there is a moment in which there is the faintest hint of love expressed in that act, God is there filling it. And that act can be a seed that leads them both to entering into loving union with Him.
See My child by what Love you are loved … My love is pure quality. There is nothing quantitative, nothing measurable in it. It is offered to all in its infinity. I can love only divinely, that is wholly, giving all to Myself.
Indeed, and here’s the problem: it is not God who moves away from us–He is everywhere filling all things. But it is we who remove ourselves from God. It is we who walk away, who go off and do our own thing, then blame God when our lives don’t turn out the way we envision it.
The difference between the sinner and the saint is that the sinner closes his heart to Love, while the saint opens himself to this Love. It is all the same love [like atmospheric pressure]. The one rejects, the other accepts. There can be no acceptance without grace, but then this grace does not give itself by measure.
This is perfect love. Immeasurable love. Unquantifiable love. And it is a love that seeks you, pursues you, and knows you more intimately than anyone else on earth.
Yourself, My child, I love differently from anyone else. I love you with a Love the like of which is given to no one else.
I love you with an incomparable, unique love. Your sins can wound the Love I have for you. They cannot lessen it.
Know who you truly are
So, wherever you are, whatever you’re doing right now while you’re reading this, whatever you’re endeavouring to do;
Whatever journey you are embarking on or seeking to disembark;
Whomever you’re with and whatever you’re doing with them, know this …
My child, you are at this moment a point in the universe upon which limitless Love is bearing down.
I, your God, your Lord, am bent over you.
You are loved. Repeat these words to yourself and let them nourish you.
The divine Being is, in a way, concentrated on you, as it is on every other existence but, yet, as if you were alone in its eyes …
Receive my declaration of Love with joyful humility and trust, and then your soul will go on its way singing.
You are loved
You are loved.
I am loved.
We are loved.
Let us all, wherever we are …
Whatever we’re doing …
Enter into this Love,
the Lord Love Himself.
And from that place of loving union with God, approach our creativity, our work, our relationships, our calling …
2 Responses
The simplicity of this is so beautiful. What stands out the most about this is how universal and all encompassing Love is, but yet how personal Love is to each one of us in the exact moment in which we are in.
I wonder if our own insecurities is what causes us to close ourselves off from Love which Fr. Lev likened to the atmospheric pressure. Maybe it’s fear of what the consequences would be to our lives if we accepted Love.
Thanks for your comment, Peter. “Maybe it’s fear of what the consequences would be to our lives if we accepted Love.” Yes, I agree. That is one of the threads of the book–that accepting Love Himself, standing before the burning bush, will make claims on your life in that you realize it is no longer yours. Then what? The interview between Jordan Peterson and Jonathan Pageau is a prime example of this ‘encounter’ and how it truly confronts the ego in its protective shell. Peterson’s bewilderment and astonishment as to the man he would become if he truly accepted this Love is a question all of us wrestle with at various times, it seems to me. Nevertheless, we must begin the journey each day, each moment, with an understanding and thanksgiving in our hearts that we are indeed loved more than we will, in this life at least, ever know–loved by Love Himself.