In physics we learn that the intensity of light radiating from a source is inversely proportional to the square of the distance from the source. This means that if we double the distance of an object from a light source, that object receives only one-quarter the energy it received at the closer distance. If we triple the distance, the object receives one ninth (11%) of the energy. Similarly, if we cut by half the distance between an object and a light source, the light increases by a factor of four.
Love is the light of the soul. Our souls require love like plants require light, and as animals require air. The love available to us roughly follows the laws that govern light. As we increase the distance from a source of love—emotionally, spiritually—we experience a rapid decrease of the feeling.
This explains the phenomenon that many of us have experienced. When we stray from the path of love—as we lessen our association with loving people, as we indulge anger in our lives, as we are selfish and protective—the feeling of love rapidly decreases. This is much like the decrease of light being a square—2 squared is 4, 4 squared is 16, and so on—of the increased distance from the source of light.
When we experience a decrease in the love we feel, the pain is consistent, and we are compelled to do something about it. If we’re familiar with the Laws of Happiness, we can simply exercise more faith in the love we already have, or we can draw closer to the sources of love in our lives—people and God, for example.
But what if Real Love is not a consistent reality for us? Then we reach out for some source of Imitation Love, which temporarily and superficially does create a sensation of light. But using Imitation Love for light is like lighting a match instead of having an electric light. The match will burn, but the light is dim. And then the match burns down and eventually burns our fingers, much as Imitation Love does.
Stay close to the light. It provides warmth, and we’re able to see clearly the choices available to us. The farther we get from the source, the more rapidly we become cold and lost—by an exponential factor.
