Love is the theme song of the universe. Sing that song and you can never be out of tune. It is the melody of heaven.  

Annalee expresses the righteous use of love. Her poetic rhythms dance in your head: Love must be sent out with power, knowingly and with direct purpose. It must be sent out as a musician sends out his melody. Just because one refrains from inharmony does not make him a musician. To be a musician one must send out melody; and to be a master of music requires hours of practice. So to be a master of the divine gift of love one must practice, and he is both the instrument and the musician, for upon his own being is the divine melody played, first within himself, then within the hearts of others.

Pour out love and watch a hungry, starving world respond.  Love is the glorified string of pearls that belongs to every individual who desires to possess them. It is the greatest gift.

Annalee talks about God’s important commands to love God and your neighbor as yourself. These are the greatest commandments according to Annalee. The lower commandments of "Thou shalt not…" are given to mankind to maintain an orderly and civilized society.  Although humans break these commandments continuously, they stand as bench marks for progressing culture.  In noticing the relationship between the people and the commandments over the past three thousand years, one could hardly notice a difference between men and women of Moses’ time and our present day societal members.  Annalee points out for us that taking hold of the Great Commandments automatically subjects the lower commandments. When one embraces the paramount Commandments, the minor commandments become automatic and or intrinsic to that individual.  This knowledge is what makes us different from our ancestors.  The Great Commandments subjugate all others.

Observe that the operative word in the Great Commandments is LOVE.  Love is the wand of the magician; it is the greatest gift and the most powerful force that man can use. It is the gift divine. Truth is so very simple, is it not?  Love is the greatest force in the Universe and it lives in the Now Moment, right here and now.

"Thou shalt love the Lord, thy God, with all thy heart, with all thy soul, with all thy mind, and with all thy strength –and, thou shalt love thy neighbor as thyself."

The Great Commandment tells us to love That which is greater than ourselves, to love all living-kind and to love ourselves.  When we acknowledge this absolute truth, all else falls into place.

I once watched an animal documentary. The program was about lions and their need for survival. They gathered on the edge of a large herd of water buffalos. The herd consisted of young and old, mothers, babies and bulls. There seemed to be something interesting going on as the herd did not try to run away from the lions. They stood quietly. Finally a very large male buffalo came out away from the herd and allowed the lions to follow him. A couple of lions tried to jump on his back and nip at his legs. He shrugged them off and walked back to the herd. Then again he walked out and let the lions follow him. They went for his throat and back and once again he walked away back to his herd. The same thing happened again but this time three lions hung on him while one lion clutched the bull’s throat, holding on and strangling the enormously strong animal. The camera panned the group of water buffalos and I asked myself: Why are they watching their fellow animal be torn apart by these lions? There was one female who stood her ground and viewed the bull as he lifelessly slumped to the ground. It seemed strange to me: Why didn’t the many lions rush the herd to capture a baby animal rather than one of its largest?

And then it came to me and I felt very sad but proud to watch such a gift of love. I knew that this bull was sacrificing himself for the good of the herd. Perhaps he was old and having problems with physical stamina and knew that the lions would leave the rest of the herd alone, if they were successful with their kill which would feed all the lions participating. I remembered how the female stood and watched. She knew the bull’s sacrifice and she and the others were grateful for the old beast’s forfeit. Gratefully, they were saying "good-by". This scene touched me in the most mysterious and spiritual way. I thought of this picture over and over and it now has a permanent place in my heart. All I need to do now is to recall this magnanimous picture in my mind and love flows into my heart.

From this I pondered the idea that one must start where one can feel love. Where is that place for you?  I’m sure this is different for all of us. I decided that if animals touched my heart first before humans and other situations in my life, then I must use these genuine feelings as a spring board for love. We humans are the furthest from knowing love and yet we have the most to gain by learning the truth of genuine Love.

I took this idea of mine further. I noticed that when I viewed some animal stories on the Animal Planet, (not the violently aggressive ones) my tensions diminished, my blood pressure lowered and laughter filled my heart and soul. I recognized that my Alzheimer patient enjoyed watching the animals on television and she smiled more and noticed more about the program as opposed to other programs. In attempting to give my patient some joy in her otherwise sad condition, I too found a deeper understanding regarding love, in this case provided by animals.

As a holistic, medical professional, I long have appreciated the common-sense and natural approach to health. I know that smiling uses fewer facial muscles than indifferent or angry frowns. Also, I know that laughter and smiling cause endorphins to flow into our blood stream and circulate through our body producing feelings of well being. These are some of the important truths about our health and homeostasis.  And, when we have a feeling of well being, we have LOVE.

While teaching nursing and dealing with the students’ anxieties in the hospital setting and my anxieties over keeping errors to a minimal under the milieu of their learning experiences, often I would excuse myself and visit the restroom. I would stand before the mirror and force myself to smile. I gave it my all with expressions and words to match the reflected grin. There then, I was ready to join my students once again knowing that the positive hormones were flowing. Out I would go to deal with the next challenge.

In the theory part of our nursing program, I would often test the memory of the students regarding their human anatomical knowledge. I would announce that we would do the bone dance. Much to the students’ disgust and swallowed comments, we would stand. When the music started, I would shout out the names of the bones. The students were required to touch that bone and name it. Well, they were nervous as it was indeed embarrassing to touch the mandible bone if I said the tarsus bone. However, miraculously, laughter exploded and I began naming the bones faster. The group looked like a cluster of chickens scratching for worms. Eventually, we all collapsed in supercilious exhaustion and out-of-control laughter.

Several students told me that later they really did fix in their minds where exactly all those bones were. Also, they soon discovered that the exercise was not about learning anatomy but about the exam that they were about to take. With their mounting anxiety over the major exam, I knew their tension would be their down-falls. By totally distracting their agitated minds and initiating first anger then laughter, they were relaxed and rejuvenated and most were able to perform really well on their exams.

I would not want to say that we all loved each other in that particular class of nursing students. We were varied in our characters and came from many different environments and backgrounds. Nevertheless, at that peek moment of hilarity during the bone dance, we all joined in a voice of elevated harmony.

I believe that our present generations exist in a soupy marsh of confusion regarding love and perhaps more so than any other point in evolutionary time. Love is mostly an indefinable word. It is confused with sex and a myriad of abstract ideas not without extreme complexity. Previous generations and times knew what love was not. They knew that arranged marriages were not based on the love principle but a larger aspect of society and culture. Some cultures still practice arranged marriages and after many years together the couples are no better or worse off than our mostly western marriages of "true love" and "until death do we part".

Somehow, each of us needs to redefine love for ourselves. Perhaps it is actually so simple that we have passed it by because it does not fit into our definition or concept. When all else fails, default to the elementary. If hearing a piece of music softens your heart and you feel warm and happy, then perhaps this is love. Go from there. If petting your animal and seeing its sweet look of adoring eyes for you only melts you, then start from there. This is a love that can be defined and followed. Loving God, living-kind and ourselves is tied together during these precious experiences. Note these events in your near future. Tag the experiences and let them play in your mind and heart. More likely than not your day will demonstrate a continuation of happy thoughts and feelings when you allow yourself to encounter love in the smallest ways.

Annalee Skarin lived in her passionate love for God. She withered in the fire of love that was so very great and intense that writing became the only means of expressing herself. Only two mortals truly understood her and they were her dearest partner, Reason, and her younger, loving daughter. Hell awaited her in family and church. She left them behind to stop the degeneration of their respective souls.

Annalee wanted to share her love for humankind despite the rebuke and scourge received from her beloved church and significant others. She loved them all as she loved herself. She loved herself because God loved her. Let love pour out from you and as it does it will heal and bless and enlighten all those whom you contact, either in thought, or by actual meeting...even the darkness of the past can be transmuted into light for the glory…love can heal every injury, past or present, and enfold one in such a glorious flame of light that the future can only be a melody of loveliness.

Our magnificent American Mystic left her love for all of us who feel with spiritual passion. Her awareness blossoms from her heart and is poured through the sieve of thought expressing in words upon parchment. We can hear the melody and sing it back, if we like.

"Thou shalt love the Lord, thy God, with all thy heart, with all thy soul, with all thy mind, and with all thy strength –and, thou shalt love thy neighbor as thyself."

This is the song, the poetry that vibrates through Annalee’s books. Read them and your soul will tremble with quiet thunder.

Warmest regards,

Sonia Easley