Understanding Sacred Relationships

Sacred relationships are relationships in which the Divine essence of the other and of oneself are acknowledged as real. Such a perspective creates a sense of honoring and respect which replaces the need-states that characterize most karmic relationships.

Within a sacred relationship, there is not the desire to change the other in order to meet one's own needs, but rather the desire to support the other so that they can grow and become who they are meant to be. This 'meant to be' is not a particular path of action or expression on an outer level. Rather, it is the path of complete inner freedom to allow the soul-essence to take charge of life and to direct life's decisions and movements.

In order for a sacred relationship to develop and to flourish, one must have the willingness to allow another to be real. This may seem like a simple idea but for many it is difficult to do. One hardly ever sees the reality of another person. This is because need-states and their associated fears are so strong in most people that they color perception, preventing one from seeing reality. Instead, one sees only a portion of reality, thinking it to be the whole. This limitation creates many distortions.

To let another be real one must be willing to see them with the eyes of love. Such love rejoices in the inner being of another, not for what it can do for oneself but because it is intrinsically beautiful and sacred. Witnessing the inner beauty and sanctity of another is the basis for all sacred relationships.

How can this state of perception be arrived at? The primary ingredient is to not have one's sense of identity or wholeness dependent upon others, but rather to allow and encourage it to exist within the firm foundation of self.

When the self can know who it is beyond anyone else's definition, that is, when the self can become real enough in its core identity to feel solid and enduring, then others can become more real as well.

The world is moving away from karmic relationships toward sacred relationships. As each one moves into greater degrees of wholeness within themselves through a reconnection with their Divine identity, the limitations of the past will become more and more of a memory, and the openness of an infinite future more and more of a realized possibility.


See also: Sacred Relationships Titles
Artwork by Daniel B. Holeman