There have been a number of articles recently around the subject of gay marriage, with different people putting forward their support or criticism of the Government’s plans to legalise gay marriage by 2015. Cardinal O’Brien, the head of the Roman Catholic Church in Scotland, is the latest to voice his criticism of the plans, calling it a ‘grotesque subversion of a universally accepted human right’. Is that a ‘universally accepted human right’ for all people except gay people?? Other religious leaders, including Lord Carey and Bishop John Sentamu have also voiced their discontent at the plans for gay marriage, with Lord Carey calling it an ‘act of cultural and theological vandalism’. He believes that the institution of marriage is under threat by the proposal to allow gay marriage. Conservative MP Peter Bone also criticised the proposal, calling it ‘completely nuts’ and claims that marriage is only to be between a man and a woman.
Equalities Minister Lynne Featherstone is a strong supported of the plans for gay marriage and states that the Church does not ‘own’ marriage. She points out that ‘this is not a battle between gay rights and religious beliefs,’ and that it is ‘about underlying principles of family, society and personal freedoms’.
Ben Summerskill, the Chief executive of Stonewall stated that the issue was neither religious nor political but about ‘the freedom of a small group of people to be treated in exactly the same way as everyone else’.
David Cameron is a supporter of gay marriage and states that this is not just about equality but about commitment and he believes that society as a whole is stronger when people, gay or straight, make such commitments to each other and support each other.
So on the one hand there are those who support equality for all, with equal rights to marriage for all people and on the other hand, those who feel that gay marriage should not be supported and who tend to be coming from a religious background or who have religious understandings. The latter have been indoctrinated to believe that being gay is some sort of sin or affront to God or is going against God’s will. They consider it abnormal to be gay and as such any action that normalises being gay, that gives gay people the same rights as non-gay people is to be rejected. Little do they realise that in doing so they are the one’s going against God’s will. How is this so?
From an esoteric perspective God is love and loves all people equally irrespective of their sexuality or indeed any other identifier. Jesus said, the ‘Kingdom of God is inside you’…..in other words the love of God is inside you. The essence of each person IS love – no matter who they are or what they have done. The universal desire of mankind is to love and be loved – because we ARE love. We are in essence, seeking ourselves through relationship, through the mirror of another. It is through relationship that we can learn more about ourselves, our needs, expectations and beliefs about ourselves and others – that we can bring up all that is not love to release it. Because we have lived in ignorance of the fact that we are love, we have acquired many ways of living and being that are not loving – and through a committed relationship we can work together to release those ways and develop a loving way of living and being.
Marriage then is about commitment between two people to endeavour to live and master the ways of love. It does not matter whether the people are homosexual or heterosexual for each person is love and it is all about love. In every interaction and relationship we can express with the energy of love or that which is not love. Marriage is a recognition of the commitment two people make to say that we are willing to work together to build a relationship that is based on love. It will provide the space to allow that which is not love to be brought up for healing and releasing. Whilst legally the commitment in a marriage is between the two people, ultimately it is a commitment to love and the ways of love and endeavouring to master that with another.
Because we already are love, we do not need to seek love from another. It is our lack of self-love, our ignorance of the fact that we are love and our loveless ways that lead us to falsely believe we need another to love us. Instead it is for each of us, whether married or single to live in a way that is self-loving such that we can be the presence of love in any relationship, not just in a one to one partnership. In any interaction we can express with the energy of love or that which is not love – whether it is with a shop-keeper, a receptionist, a family member or an intimate partner. A marriage then is the commitment to love, where each person endeavours to live in a way that is self-loving, that is honouring and respectful of self and other equally.
Energetically love is an equalness and whilst it may be our experience that we love one person more than another this is based on human emotional love rather than what love is – where all are loved equally. It is clear that we are far from living that – but that is the journey we are on – to return to the love that we are, that we know all others also are and where it is known and truly felt that all are love equally. Marriage is a commitment between two people who commit to love, to develop a loving way of being and living with each other but not exclusively so. By developing a loving way of being with one person, we can bring that to all relationships and interactions, where all are honoured, respected and treated equally. The expression of love in a marriage is of course different to the expression of love in relationships outside the marriage and the expression of love through the act of making love is reserved for the married couple and forms part of the commitment. Disharmony or discord can arise if the commitment to love itself, to being self loving is not of equal potential between the two people.
Thus it is irrelevant whether the people being married are gay or straight for marriage is a commitment to love, to love oneself and another equally. Whilst religious leaders may use mind-based biblical reasons or theological understandings to justify their prejudice, there is in fact no true religious justification against gay marriage when God is known in the inner sanctum of the inner heart.
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