What most of us know of eros is an approximation of the essential spiritual condition of feeling true magnetism, the true attraction that many of us feel in relationship to the divine, in relationship to God, in relationship to truth, in relationship to the absolute, in relationship to our true nature. We feel drawn to it. We feel pulled toward it. We feel attracted to it. We can experience it as an interest, as a longing, as a desire, as a determination. But when we finally know it, we feel it as a force, a magnetic gravitational force, pulling our soul in a direction that we don’t know but can’t help moving toward. And when we feel that attraction in our heart, we feel it as a kind of love, as the subtlest kind of love. Love always wants to bring us closer to what we love, whether the object of love is God, truth, or reality, whether it is a car, an iPad, or a person.

When our love becomes very refined, very pure, very subtle, when it is at its subtlest, purest, most delicate—which requires total vulnerability, with no defensiveness—we recognize it explicitly as a magnetic love. Not only do you feel “I love you,” but when you say, “I love you,” you cannot help but feel drawn as the words are spoken. You feel a magnetic force that can only be felt as a wanting or desire. And the desire is not for the other; it is for unity with the other. This is usually easier to feel in relation to our spiritual ground—with God or with true nature. When we become aware of that level of heart, we have found one of the deepest possible motivations for spiritual work, one of the most effective reasons to engage the inner journey. And because of that powerful force, we feel we can’t help it—we need to go there, we have to go there, we want to go there, we love to go there. We want to be as close to the truth as possible, so close that we don’t exist anymore . . . only the truth exists.

Understanding this magnetic force within us can help us clarify how to have a strong, powerful, deep motivation to continue to be real, to be as real as possible, to dedicate our time and life to experiencing, living, and expressing the truth, the truth of the mystery. Since this mystery is the truth of unity, its expression is love, generosity, and the experience of coming together in the most appreciative, sensitive way. Experienced from this perspective, the mystery itself, our true nature, is complete clarity, radiance, and brilliance. Also, this type of magnetism is pure luminosity. When we feel this luminosity in the heart, we feel it as the luminosity of magnetic love. It is beautiful, sublime. It feels so delicate, so fine, so refined, and so subtle, all at the same time; and although it is so subtle, its effect is of the most powerful, most passionate attraction. Again, this is paradoxical. It doesn’t make sense to the mind, because we think that something so subtle and so delicate should be fragile, not powerful. It is the subtlest kind of love, the barest kind of delicate, effervescent luminosity. But its impact is an amazing magnetic attraction that appears as a liking, as an enjoyment—as the enjoyment and the liking of love itself, of desire itself, of the pull itself, of the unity itself. This force, which is also exquisite love, can become the appreciation of our true nature, but it can also express itself as an attraction between people.

If the ultimate truth is such a unity, such singleness, which is actually a singularity, what will the impact be as we begin to be touched by it, as we begin to open to that truth, as we come closer to it? How will we feel its effect on us? Using the conventional language of time and space, we would say, “I am here and you are there.” But since neither of us feels any distance, it seems as though a magnet were pulling us toward each other. We feel that we are one, but we perceive two, and the result is that we both feel a force bringing us together. And the closer we are, the more powerfully we will feel it. Just like two magnets: When they are relatively far from each other, there is some attraction, but the closer they get, the more powerful the attraction becomes. What do the magnets want to do? They want to become so connected that they are one, for one is the truth. Twoness is ultimately appearance, not reality. More accurately, it is simply how reality appears, not what it fundamentally is.

Magnetic love is appreciative, generous, selfless; it is a sweetness, a liking, a lovingness and tenderness and, at the same time, a magnetic pull that you can experience as wanting or desire. But it is more fundamental than desire or wanting. When you desire, you feel that you are doing something. Actually, something is controlling you from inside, pulling on you. You can feel it as “I am wanting,” but it is not you who wants. It is the absolute that wants, through exerting its gravitational force. The truth wants to reveal itself, and you feel this as a relationship of love to the truth, as an interest or an attraction to it.