Miracles Magazine, July-August, 2021, pp.44-46.
Giving and receiving are one. There is no receiving without a giver. Also, there is no giving without a receiver. They are one and the same. They are one truth, one reality.
Clearly, giving cannot occur unless something is given to one who receives. Also, there can be no receiver without a giver. Therefore, giving requires the simultaneous presence of a receiver. Since neither giving or receiving can occur in isolation, i.e., as independent entities, then they must be one and the same, i.e., one truth, one reality.
Giving and receiving are not separate entities or elements of interaction, but rather one simultaneous occurrence or happening. One cannot happen before or after the other. If one happened before the other it would have to be something other than giving or receiving since they both must always exist simultaneously. Since they must always occur together, in realty, this makes them one.
Because one cannot exist without the other, there cannot be a time delay whatsoever between giving and receiving. Giving or receiving cannot exist if there is a time delay between them. They are one and both must be simultaneously present for the phenomena of giving and receiving to manifest.
This idea that giving and receiving can only happen if both are occurring at the same time can be generalized to other life experiences. This understanding can be applied to the reconciliation of all apparent opposites. It can be generalized to all life experiences that appear to be dualistic in nature, including the apparent appearance of cause and effect.
Love is an excellent example of this phenomenon. Love is actually an interaction. Love is not Love unless is it shared. Clearly, Love cannot be shared if it is not present. However, it cannot be present if it is not shared.
Also, Love cannot be shared unless there is a recipient. Therefore, for Love to exist it must be shared with someone or something. Without a receiver love is not shared and therefore it is not love. The giving and receiving of Love must be a simultaneous happening in order for Love to be Love.
Consequently, we know that Love is shared but never given away as it might appear to be in a dualistic sense. Love is necessarily the simultaneous experience of being itself and sharing itself or it cannot be Love. This is why it is frequently stated that “when love is shared with others it is always returned back to the sender.” This is a dualistic example of the recognition that giving and receiving are one. This is not only true in Love but also in all forms of giving, as well as in all apparent manifestations of cause and effect.
I cannot share what I do not have. Therefore, if I am sharing Love I must, at the same time, be
Love. But I cannot be Love if it is not being shared. Accordingly, for the receiver to experience Love they must also be Love.
In truth, Love is always present everywhere. Since God is Love and all existence is an expression of God’s Love, then the oneness of giving and receiving is omnipresent and unchanging. Our main goal in life and, for that matter, our greatest challenge is to recognize this as the deepest reality of the universe.
In summary, for Love to exist it must be shared – giving and receiving are truly one. Love’s reality is based on the principle of oneness in which cause and effect are known as simultaneous realities.
-Jim Strohl