The Sacred Union

(conclusion)

Good is the union of all the opposites. Evil no longer exists.
--Deepak Chopra, How to Know God.


Human Love is the physical expression, the simple intimations, and the outright utterance of what Love is. Through Human Love, a big hug, a sweet kiss, a word of affirmation spring from the depths of human heart, so Love can be shown in its common but deep manifestations. Divine Love, on the other hand, is the Soul of Love, its true, pure, and intangible nature that cannot be grasped by words and concepts, nor can be defined by physical actions and logical conclusions. Together, these two "kinds" of Love become one: the Sacred Union, the union of Divine and Human Love.

Robert A. Johnson, in his book, We: The Psychology of Romantic Love, tells us that this Sacred Union is comparable to the incarnation, like that of Christ, who is an incarnated God; the pure, Divine Love born in its human form. The Sacred Union shows that Divine and Human Love are different forms of the same essence, and both are in their incessant change of being and becoming. Whenever it is difficult to grasp what Love is, a loving touch makes Love truer. Yet a touch alone cannot express the infinite, intangible Love, unless Love alone is the sincere cause that makes physical touch possible.

Romantic Love is a form of Sacred Union, where Love bonds the lover and the beloved. This is beyond how Love is merely defined. Wonderful emotions spring from Romantic Love, but only if Romantic Love is realized. Love cannot be limited by our emotions. This is behind our failed concept of Love, where most of us think that for us to Love, we must have that wonderful feeling as a proof of our Love. Once it goes away, Love, too, is gone. This raises a question on how we understand Love: do we only Love based on our intense emotions? Emotions cannot sustain Love, for emotions are only impermanent expressions of the unchanging Love. Love can exist with or without emotion. But because we are human beings, emotions are indications of how Love expresses itself. That is why we feel Love rather than think of it. Discerning this Sacred Union entails a different kind of awareness, where we don't muddle up the emotion with the purest form of Love. Tapping to the true source of Love allows positive emotions and infinite possibilities to cascade, making our lives richer and more colorful.

If we continue to suffer in anxiety and loneliness, our negative emotions remind us that the Sacred Union is yet to happen, and it calls for our active participation. Being aware of the Love within us unites our Divine Love - our nature - and Human Love -our expression- to become one inseparable truth. This union is a potential source of energy, like positive and negative terminals of a battery, wherein all that is good, including positive emotions and material blessings, flows and inundates our lives.

The Sacred Union is comparable to a holy marriage, or what Carl Jung termed as hieros gamos. This is the union of all opposites. Opposites are not opposing. In fact, they are nondual. Like hot and cold, or hard and soft, they are all transformations of the same essential reality. A soft can also be hard or vice versa.


A man and a woman are opposites, yet they are not in war or in domination of each other. Their partnership is strengthened by the bond of conscious Loving. Man's masculine energies of action and physicality combined with the woman's feminine energies of passion and soulfulness forms a true identity of Oneness. This holy marriage becomes the evidence of Love, through the couples' commitment in living Love in their lives. Beyond the usual concept of rituals and legal rulings, the holy marriage takes place within the consciousness of both partners.

This is a continuous, never-ending process. Sacred Union is not a one-time event. Love between a man and a woman manifests in gestures of Romantic Love, when Divine/Human Love is experienced. It is a continuous choice, to choose Love moment to moment of existence. This is the Rhythm of Love that gives music to strong bonds and relationships. When a partner fails to be conscious of Divine Love, an act of Human Love reminds again. When a partner fails to show Human Love, the feeling and memory of Love empowers more.

Romantic Love, therefore, leads us to an insight: that Love is beyond romantic emotions and sentiments, techniques and how-to's, cultural concepts and the like. Romantic Love is the Sacred Union of the deepest understanding of Divine Love, and its own tangible expression as Human Love. There will be no more confusion between being human or divine, for in the Sacred Union, all opposites are equal. A man and a woman achieve this great union, by the virtue of Love's utmost truth, giving birth to the Soul of Love through their lasting presence. Love is both human and divine within them, and they bring greatness to the true nature of Love.