Bruce uses the acronym PUL, which means pure unconditional love. The way he spoke of it in his books seems to indicate that when he experienced it he experienced something quite powerful and wonderful. What he experienced is similar to what some near death experiences experience when they experience unconditional divine love.

As some of you know, I was involved with guru-based teachings back in the 1980s. Some gurus refer to themselves as "Self realized." This term is sometimes interchangeable with the term "God realized." Partly because of this usage, many guru followers believe they are with God when they are with their guru, even if their guru doesn't claim to be an avatar (direct incarnation of God).

Going by what I have found, gurus don't tend to be what they claim. Yet many of their followers experience divine love, peace, bliss and joy when they are with their gurus. Why? Partly because their excitement of being with what they believe to be an authentic representation of God  enables them open up to divine love,  even though their guru doesn't have the power to bestow grace as he claims.

There was one lady with the guru-based group I used to belong to that for the sake of conversation I'll call E. She was a very nice lady. Whenever you would interact with her you could tell that her love was genuine. If you looked at her as Satsang with the guru took place, you could tell that as she gazed at him, she was feeling a lot of love. While she was with the group she was certain that the guru of the group was enlightened to the extent he claimed.

About a year after I left the group their was a lot of turmoil within the group, and there was a mass exodus of the guru's followers. I spoke to E on the phone, and she was still a very love-based person. She no longer believed that the guru from the group we used to belong to was enlightened as he claimed to be. She told, "but you know Albert, the love was always real." I could tell that she really meant this.

It seems to me that divine love is available to us even when we have some false beliefs about the source of such love. This is a good thing because if we had to have  beliefs that are very accurate before we could experience divine love, a lot of people who experience it wouldn't get to do so.

Since divine love and wisdom are inseparable from each other, it seems interesting that we can experience divine love even when we have false concepts. Going by what some NDErs say, and other information, it doesn't seem that we could energetically handle experiencing divine love to the extent it is available, while we are incarnated in a body. This might partly explain why we can experience divine love without comprehending all of the wisdom it contains. Even when we experience divine love a lot, we don't experience it fully.

I believe it is possible to get in touch with the wisdom that comes from God. One key to doing so is seeing if our beliefs are in line with the love we feel. For example, if we believe that it is okay for a guru to allow himself to be treated in an adoring and worshipful way, we could ask ourselves if he is acting in a way that is in alignment with a level of love that includes humility, fullness without having to stand out, equality and oneness?

Another thing we could do is see if our viewpoints about God are in line with the understanding that God's love is perfect and is in line with perfect wisdom.

I figure love is both inside and outside of us.

rondele wrote on May 1^st, 2017 at 6:06pm:


Exactly, and as we are made in the image of God, His love is a part of who we are.

The person who does not love does not know God, because God is love. And we have come to know and to believe the love that God has in us. God is love, and the one who resides in love resides in God, and God resides in him. John 4:8;16

I tend to use the word love, but I have no problem with Bruce's usage of PUL.

Not everybody in this world is aware of unconditional love.  Some, for the most part, are only aware of conditional love and romantic love.

I believe Bruce wanted to indicate that he was speaking of something other than conditional or romantic love. For the sake of brevity he used PUL. I do not believe that he created this acronym with the thought that people wouldn't be expressions of  unconditional love when they spoke of it. I bet you that God has no problem with the term at all. I do not believe that God is looking for people who are subservient to him. He is looking for people who love everybody including Bruce, when he uses the term PUL. You really don't need to put down Bruce's terminology in order to validate the Bible.

PS-

This explains the concept better than I

http://ourultimatereality.com/pure-unconditional-love.html

R

Consider the alleged application of PUL to spirit retrievals.  Over the years, I have read many retrieval reports on this site.  They read more like busting souls out of an astral jail than helping trapped souls evolve an upgraded character. The "jailbreak" model implies a higher heaven, in which like no longer attracts like; rather, morally undeveloped souls get to soar to that higher plane without regard to how well they fit in, simply because a retrieval brought them there.  with a more pure vibration.  I reject the notion that the soul to be retrieved empathizes or tunes in to a projected emotion of bliss an ecstasy that helps provide sufficient "escape velocity" to soar to a higher plane.  True retrievals first require progress in one's way of being, not immersion in PUL.  The word "pure" in PUL implies a contrast with various impurities, which reflect mixed motives and flawed agendas.--in other words an inferior way of being.

To be human is to be interdependent and human love evolves through a mutual meeting of needs and fulfillment of desires.  In that sense, human love is by definition conditional and has strings attached to it.   The only way such strings can be cut is by a gradual process of character development towards a way of being that loves with the same purity and intensity, regardless of how its target reacts to us and to the outside world.  We like to say, "I send you my love," but PUL cannot be "sent;" rather, its target perceives the loving acts and communication of the retrieval, and through them, the retriever's way of being.

Don:

Consider what NDERs such as Howard Storm experienced. He had no interest in spirituality while in this world, but once he received help, he changed his ways quite quickly. It seems as if the love he experienced while Jesus helped him, was much more enticing than his previous ways. I've read of other NDEs where people changed their ways quite quickly. I don't mean they immediately became perfected beings,  but they ended up having a better understanding of where true fulfillment comes from. Plus, time works differently in the spirit world. Consider how many NDERs state that they experience things instantaneously.

Plus, when Bruce wrote of retrievals he didn't state that souls instantly become high level beings. He wrote that sometimes retrievals are a matter of helping a confused soul find its way out of a confused state of mind.  Sometimes additional spiritual growth is required after a soul leaves its confused state of mind. He wrote of souls being retrieved from lower realms, and then slipping back to a lower realm because some of their energetic causes them to slip back. It isn't an all or nothing process.

My retrieval experiences are different than the ones Bruce describes. I merge with the souls that need help. At first their energy feels negative. I tune into love and my connection to God as best as I can, and a cleansing process takes place. Gradually the energy that is felt becomes cleaner until it feels like love and peace. I have done this many times. It isn't a matter of the helped souls becoming perfect masters right away. It is a matter of their evolving in a more positive direction.

My understanding is that some of these souls are so locked in their darkness, that it isn't likely that they'll change their ways anytime soon, if at all. After they get cleansed of some of their negative energy and thought patterns, they are able to open up to love and light sufficiently enough so they can consider a more positive way.

To some degree it is a matter of remembering. We forget  who we are and where we come from when we incarnate in places this like this world. If we clean out the dross enough, we can remember.  This is similar to what some NDERs experience when they have an NDE. When I had what I refer to as my Night in Heaven experience, I remembered how things are in the world of spirit. I understood what our existence is really about.




TheDonald wrote on May 2^nd, 2017 at 12:22am:

Regarding what Doc said, I believing that living according to PUL isn't an all or nothing process. We do so to varying degrees. The more a person grows spiritually, the more a person does so.

Have you ever thought of speaking to a person, and then that person calls you on the telephone? Such instances could be the result of our being able to telepathically communicate with others at a level we aren't fully conscious of, while far away from each other. Perhaps love can be shared in a similar way.