The universal power of love is within all people. That universal power manifests as remarkable intelligence throughout creation. We observe that intelligence at work in the natural world and through the wisdom of our own bodies. We see streaks of brilliant inspiration through people and through our own consciousness. Being witness to that, we can be assured that the universal intelligence of love is available to us as human beings.

If it is true that universal power and the intelligence of love is within all people, and within humanity as a whole, why is it that people can act so ignorantly at times? You don’t have to live very long before you have the painful experience of watching people’s behavior that is not only against their own best interest but against the best interest of the people and the world around them. You may witness yourself thinking and acting in ways that don’t bring real joy or fulfillment. And seen as a whole, there are so many behaviors of humanity that are threatening our survival as a species and the well-being of the planet as a whole. Do we need to mention greenhouse gases, deforestation and nuclear warheads?

Is it possible that there is intelligence and guidance available within all people from the universal power of love, but that there is an override that keeps us from receiving it, at least some of the time? I have observed this override occurring repeatedly in the human experience. The workings of it are described symbolically in the medieval legend of Percival, or Parsifal, the subject of Wagner’s opera and a hero from the tales of King Arthur. Here is one telling of his story:

Parsifal’s legend can be told in many different ways and translations. Though they may seem different, the main goal of “The Red Knight” is to obtain the Holy Grail from King Arthur himself. Parsifal grew up as a simple peasant with no father. Although he didn’t know his father, Parsifal had the “blood of a knight” and knew someday that he would grow up to be just that, and eventually conquer his quest for the Holy Grail.

Parsifal went on his journey to find the knights at the round table at King Arthur’s court. Dressed in rags, Parsifal fought one of the most noble knights at the round table and won, ultimately winning his red armor. After this, Parsifal was known as the Red Knight. He continued his journey, saving damsels, meeting plenty of nobility and fighting many battles with knights greater than him. Eventually, Parsifal came to the Fisher King’s castle and was invited in as he was well known by this time. The Fisher King, dying in his own castle, gave his sword and the Holy Grail to Parsifal, knowing that he was the righteous one that would honor and keep it.

Although Parsifal obtained the Holy Grail and conquered his journey, he had left one duty undone. Throughout his journey and battles, he wronged many men and seduced many women. This was very unknightly of him and brought to his attention by a hermit, living near the castle of the Fisher King. The hermit asked Parsifal if he had ever wondered whom the Grail should serve and if he thought about the dying Fisher King and his people. Parsifal now realized that he was not the courageous, noble knight that he had set out to be and returned to the Fisher King’s castle with the Grail in his hand.

Once Parsifal entered the castle and asked, “Whom does the Grail serve?” the entire castle broke out in joy, and the Fisher King was instantly recovered from his death bed.

Many tellings of the story go on to say how the land and the kingdom flourished when Parsifal finally asked the key question.

The legend of Parsifal tells us that no matter how seemingly virtuous a person may seem to be, the universal power that has the potential of bringing life may elude them. It also tells us why. The grail is creation. It is the cup that receives the universal power of love. Our human body is part of that cup, and human consciousness is the consciousness of the grail. The override that prevents a person from thriving is the failure to acknowledge that all of creation and all of who and what we are as human beings live in service to the universal power and intelligence within us. We are here to manifest that power and intelligence.

Here is the key factor in the receiving of universal intelligence that comes with the power of love—the awareness that we serve that reality. And here is also what overrides it, contained in this story: a lack of awareness of who and what this whole world serves. No matter how virtuous the endeavors of a person, no matter how valorous, no matter how well-intentioned, if a person does not have a keen awareness that their life, by its very nature, is made to serve and to manifest the intelligence of love within them, the thinking mechanism of a person overrides that guidance. Human thought insists that the creation serve the well-being of humanity. It says, “No, I don’t want to hear the intelligence of love—I’m not interested. I have things to deal with here. I have to defend myself against these things that I fear. I have these things that I want to have happen. I have these important things related to my survival even. I have things that are important for my fulfillment.”

All those things are important. Our survival is important. Our fulfillment is important. But if concern about them overrides the guidance of love that is present and available to us, we end up being ignorant and misguided, and ultimately not serving those very things that we thought were so important and which distracted us from the one thing that is most important.

The most important thing is this: Whom does the Grail serve? Our thinking, our emotions, the whole world is a grail for the vibration of love that reverberates through it. All the animal kingdoms, all the vegetable kingdoms, all the kingdoms of the world have within them the power of love, and the wisdom and intelligence and the design of love. We are meant to be stewards of that so that intelligence can be facilitated on this planet for all of creation, so that this whole planet can be the Grail for love.

That is our calling as human beings. It is a high and wonderful calling, and in it all the other factors of our life find their place. There is a lie that is present in human thinking, divorced from universal intelligence. This lie is the belief that if an individual does live a life of service, all these other things that are important will not be served—that the person will not be okay and this world will not be okay if they don’t take matters in hand and think it through and do what they think is best for themselves. The truth is exactly the opposite: we become ignorant as to our own well-being, never mind the well-being of the world around us, when we override the universal intelligence.

The human mind was designed to be the instrument of universal intelligence. For many people, their mind is a curse. It is a dog working a bone: it gets a thought, it has an issue that it is concerned about, and it just can’t let it go. The emotional body becomes involved, and by its nature the emotional body carries the power of love. But the emotions get worked by the mental process. It is called obsession. When obsession gets bad enough we create names for it, like obsessive-compulsive disorder. But it is a quality of the mind, having overridden the intelligence of love, to obsess over things; and divorced from universal intelligence, the power of the universe flowing through their mind drives people crazy.

That is a vestige of the creative use of the mind that is lit up by universal intelligence. In some meditation practices the idea is to still the mind, and that can be helpful. My experience is that ultimately the mind is going to think about something. Have you ever been amazed at what your mind does in your dreams? For the most part, I don’t remember my dreams, for which I’m thankful; but there are the occasions when I wake up and I do remember, and the unbounded imagination is incredible! Dreams are an unending fount of amazing images and stories, practically nonstop!

This tells us something about the capacity of the mind, which is designed to be lit up by the intelligence of love. Lit up by love, the mind has the ability to conceive the forms that love would create in a person’s world. It has a wonderful, powerful ability to imagine. “We could do this! We could invent that! Think about what might come into being.”

Lit up by love, the mind is on a never-ending mission to deeply understand the people and the events around them. For me, it goes something like this: “What was that person doing, and why were they doing it? What is going on over here? And what might help them? This person seems to be struggling—why are they struggling? Is there something I could do to make it different? Is there some way that I could show up as love in this person’s life, and perhaps help them change that around, and get them on a better course? Hmm…let me try this, maybe that… Maybe I should propose a plan: how about we all do this together?” It never stops. When we are lit up by love through our beautiful mind, we penetrate our world with the light of understanding. That is very different from a mind that is obsessed with self-preservation.

Lloyd Meeker, who founded Emissaries of Divine Light, taught that the obsessive mind is self-active in the sense that it is not moved by the flow of the universal power and intelligence of love. It is thinking what it thinks it should think. He said the obsessed mind is like a wheel with a crank on it, which the mind itself tries to turn. That is very different from the experience of being lit up by love.

We have the most amazing computer right on board. Technology experts predict that in several years the computations per second performed by computers are going to catch up to the human mind. At least for now, the human mind wins! We have this marvelous computer on board, an instrument for wisdom and intelligence and sight. When the intelligence of the universe is not overridden by a person who is making their life all about themselves, that intelligence is online, being guided by love. It shows up in the questions that love inspires in a person’s thoughts: “How can I help? How can I be of service? How can I create something beautiful that would inspire another person? How could I offer leadership in this circumstance that would rally people around something beautiful and productive and creative?” These are the kinds of thoughts that we have when we are lit up by love.

Aflame

The soul and heart of love
transforms all it touches
with the sun power
that grows sequoias,
and breeds hurricanes
in the dark waters of the Atlantic.

May the way I love you
bring that same transforming power,
the same warmth
that heals the tired heart
and the aching bones
of the one who seeks
the face of the Beloved.

May his heart
be mine
and so answer the questions
we have sought all our life.
May the power of the sun
grow us and change us
so we are aflame,
so we are enlightened
by love.