Depends on what is meant by love.
Detachment from created beings, doesn't necessarily mean lack of love,
but it does mean lack of desire to possess or be possessed by created beings.
 
Love of one's parents changes. Adult love is not the same as the child's love.
To hang on to child's love of a parent when one is an adullt could be very stunting.
 
On the other hand, divine love is all consuming and will not abide competition.
It demands, as in the act of love, complete submission.
 
So there is a paradox. It is perhaps partially resolved by seeing God in one's parents,
for all created beings are reflections of God.
 
The intensity of loving God can give one a newer and deeper appreciation
of created beings, by seeing how they reflect God.
 
P.
----- Original Message -----
From: [log in to unmask] href="mailto:[log in to unmask]">Terry Traynor
To: [log in to unmask] href="mailto:[log in to unmask]">[log in to unmask]
Sent: Sunday, March 28, 2010 12:19 PM
Subject: Re: Eliot on Charles Williams' mysticism

>Last but not least, let us preface these observations 

>with the epigraph of 'Sweeney Agonistes' drawn from 

>St. John of the Cross:

 >

>"Hence the soul cannot be possessed of the divine union, 

>until it has divested itself of the love of created beings."


Does this mean that the only way to be "possessed of the divine union" is to stop loving your parents, your children, your spouse, etc.?


Terry