Merging Love is a concept put forward by A. H. Almaas, concerning the arising of our first love: mother, and our ongoing journey to wholeness–only possible when we separate from that unfulfilled longing.
This phenomena is best reflected in our modern times through the vehicles of art, theater, and song.
It has been a pastime of mine lately to catalog songs that have moved me over the years. That sentimentality is rooted in Merging Love. I honestly cannot fathom anything else that has touched me so deeply–successfully provoking pronounced and extended periods of reflection. Such is the power that this notion has had over me throughout the decades.
I wonder where it finds you, gentle reader.
Karen Carpenter
Carpenter’s angelic voice filled the AM radio airwaves of my yesterdays. WOWO, once a Fort Wayne 50Kw powerhouse, faithfully rotated the productions shared by her and Richard. Her lilting soprano voice drifted caressingly across the cornfields and pasturelands of too many summers gone by. Winter was no less blessed when the greens–and eventually the yellows, reds, and browns–were blanketed under a carpet of alabaster fluff.
One love in my young life/
Took me somewhere I had never been/
And I want to live again, breathe again/
In the shelter of his brightly woven love song/
So long I have wanted love to be/
Sitting just this near to me/
Now my waiting heart is free
Audio by YouTube: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=DE7rytFepVE
And now/
All the fears that I had start to fade/
I was always afraid love might forget me/
Love might let me down/
Then look who I found
Audio by YouTube: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=f1YntJx0A4I
And, oh, I just fall in love again/
Just one touch and then it happens every time/
And there I go I just fall in love again, and when I do/
Can’t help myself, I fall in love with you
Audio by YouTube: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=qVo3llfvJcs
I love you in a place where there’s no space or time/
I love you for in my life you are a friend of mine
Audio by YouTube: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=BSpoeVUKTgw
A great deal of merging in those classics, but I’d be remiss if I didn’t confess that the sax solos are rich ear candy to this old farmboy’s heart.
John Denver
I really miss John Denver. I guess it’s no small coincidence that I’ve paired him near the top of my list with that other departed soul. Only one merging song of note, as the library of his works fall most appropriately into the “Expansive” category. His songs lift my heart.
Oh and in the night time I know that it’s the right time/
To hold you close and say I love you so/
To have someone to share with/
And someone I can care with/
And that is why I wanted you to know/Sometimes I feel like a sad song/
Like I’m all alone without you, without you.
Audio by YouTube: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Zgkldu_ZoM4
Lionel Ritchie
I know that some of you may experience some surprise at the next offering from Ritchie’s Commodores days.
I wanna walk with you/
And talk with you/
and do all the things you want me to do
One of the oldest “Mergings” follows the Christian faith. So just a heads-up to those of you who make take offense. Now to that audio link.
Audio by YouTube: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=U6UAp7C2gtY
Probably one of his better known merging songs goes like this:
Girl, tell me only this/
That I’ll have your heart for always/
And you want me by your side/
Whispering the words I’ll always love you/And forever I will be your lover/
And I know if you really care/
I will always be there
Audio by YouTube: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=G1xiFRccd88
Michael Jackson
I was only a pup when MJ brought this next example to our attention.
Let me fill your heart with joy and laughter/
Togetherness, well that’s all I’m after/
Whenever you need me, I’ll be there/
I’ll be there to protect you, with an unselfish love that respects you/
Just call my name and I’ll be there
Audio by YouTube: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=W-apaIOOoAo
What you see here is by no means an exhaustive list. It is, however, where I end my journey with you on this 23rd day of November 2011. Bookmark and return, or drop me an email if you want flagged as this expands.
The Melting Allure…
We need to step back a bit to understand how merging love impacts our experiences. My earlier explanation is arguably quite cerebral and heavily psychoanalytical in nature. It is. A. Hameed Ali is AH Almaas. He speaks to the nature of Merging Love, but in the following case, mostly about the outward manifestation of “love:”
You can see that you are not clear in your mind about what love is. When you say to someone, “I love you,” what do you really mean? When you are passionately in love with someone and you tell him how much you love him, is that really love? What is involved in this feeling?
If you really look at the feeling, you may see that when you say, “Oh, I really love you! You’re wonderful!” what you are really feeling is neediness. You want to eat the other person up. You don’t want him to go away. That doesn’t mean there is no love present, but what you are mainly experiencing is neediness.
When people say, “I love you,” they are usually expressing not their love, but their need. When you are truly loving, you rarely think about love. A truly loving person is not focused on her love. She does not go around advertising her love–how much of it there is or how deep it is.
When you tell your friend, “I love you so much,” don’t you want him to tell you, “I love you, too”? Suppose you tell your friend, “I really love you so much,” and your friend says, “I know.” Is this all right with you? What will you feel? You want to receive some positive feedback. “Didn’t I just tell you I love you? Why don’t you put your arms around me,” or even “don’t bother me,” and so forth.
Not only do you have all kinds of assumptions, preconceptions and ideas about what love is; even when you’re feeling love, it is not necessarily love. Most of the time, when you say, “love,” the point is not to express love, but to express something else. But when love is truly there, it is expressed by its presence. You don’t need to say it.
When you say, “I love you,” it is usually some kind of advertisement, or commercial. — A. H. Almaas, Diamond Heart: Book Two, pp. 151-2.
Almaas expands his explanation further in how it feels to experience Merging Love in that same text, and I’ll address that here in the coming days.