Intimacy is one of the most elementary human needs. Its wealth nourishes the human soul.
One of the most beautiful expression of intimacy is when two people embrace each other. This wonderful human gesture — the hug — is a store of great secrets and benefits.
So what are the secrets of the embrace? Embrace has a smaller and a greater secret…
The Small Secret of the Embrace
The small secret of the embrace is that it has a wide range of positive physiological and psychological effects. For instance, it increases trust and confidence, it reduces anxiety, fear, and pain, boosts the immune system, and alleviates the aftermath of stress.
An embrace means closeness and warmth in human relations, it is the most intimate expression of love. An embrace reinforces connections, it affords a sense of safety and improves the intensity of two people’s sense of belonging together. An embrace provides us with the an exceptionally intensive sense of belonging to another person — and it is not possible to generate the same emotion in any other way. An embrace is also a form of communication, and with it, we may express things that we are not able to put into words.
In essence, embracing tranquilizes the soul and, for a few moments, is able to make us forget the things and problems around us, which triggers numerous physical and psychological benefits.
Embracing as a Gateway
In an embrace, our whole body is permeated by currents of energy, giving us a fine, pleasant feeling. This energy is love. In the embrace, in this current of love, a gateway opens up. Through the gate, some of our original state of existence shines through. This is the great secret of the embrace.
Our original state of existence is a state in which Consciousness is not identified with forms and shapes. This state of the Consciousness is Life itself, the state of Oneness, and empty space filled up completely with the vibrating energy of love that encompasses everything else.
In our present state of Consciousness we identify with the forms and shapes of this reality, and thus we are separated from Oneness. In that state, most of us have forgotten our original state of existence. Nowadays, the majority of people consider the Ego, that small, detached Self, as reality. That is the consequence of our identification with the world of forms and shapes.
An embrace is, however, able to dissolve our identification with those forms and shapes — we open up for the other person, we become receptive, and the Ego disappears. The stream of our thoughts stops, and only the present moment exists for us. Then, at that moment of alertness, we receive something from the immense, universal current of love coming to us through the gate that has opened up for us. Consciousness may wake up to its own existence, and it may escape from the spell of identification with the forms and shapes.
That is why it is useful to make use of the gateway opened up by an embrace as frequently as possible in our daily life.
A hug to you all!
Frank
This article excerpted and adapted from the book, The Revolution of Consciousness — Deconditioning the Programmed Mind by Frank M. Wanderer.
The Revolution of Consciousness — Deconditioning the Programmed Mind
The revolution of the Consciousness is taking place Now, in the present moment. There are no strategies, no great leaders in this revolution, only heroes who understand the evolutionary progress of the Consciousness and are open to allow the processes to take place in themselves.
Frank M. Wanderer’s book The Revolution of Consciousness — Deconditioning the Programmed Mind offers tools and insights to help you overcome obstacles to enlightenment, and bring higher levels of consciousness into your daily Life.
The Revolution of Consciousness is available here on Amazon, or you can check out all of Frank’s published works here.
About the Author
Frank M. Wanderer, Ph.D is a professor of psychology, a consciousness researcher and writer. With a lifelong interest in the mystery of human existence, Frank’s work is to help others wake up from identification with our personal history and the illusory world of the forms and shapes, and to find our identity in what he calls “the Miracle”, the mystery of the Consciousness.