Is love really all you need ?

Christians today feel threatened from all sides. Forces beyond our control crowd us into a "global village," squeezing us closer to everyone else ... often uncomfortably close.

People of diverse cultures and competing religions are only a mouse-click away. They enter our homes daily via satellite TV. Even within our own country, a "culture war" seems to have targeted traditional Christian values.

This clash of opposing views is often unsettling and sometimes downright scary. Yet, beneath these apparent conflicts is a core of common hope and spiritual truth ... Love! Indeed, only Love - as prescribed by Jesus - will give us the strength to explore, both within ourselves and in those we view as "the other," the problems which now seem insurmountable.

This is the message of a new book, The Love: Of the Fifth Spiritual Paradigm, published by The Oracle Institute, an educational charity dedicated to lessening the current spiritual chaos. In this unique collection, eleven aspects of Love are examined by New York Times bestselling authors and Pulitzer and Nobel Peace Prize winners. The contributing authors come from a broad spectrum of religious and academic backgrounds, including Archbishop Desmond Tutu, Evangelical Pastor Brian McLaren, and Professor Robert Eisenman, who was instrumental in getting the Dead Sea Scrolls released from the Catholic Church.

Archbishop Tutu's essay, God Has A Dream, wisely connects the Psalmist's phrase, "Be still and know that I am God," with his own wisdom, "Be still, be quiet, and then you will begin to see with the eyes of the heart." Tutu also instructs us, "As we take time to be still and to be in God's presence, the qualities of God are transferred to us," as one may absorb soothing warmth by "sitting in front of a fire on a cold day."

In Good News for All People, Pastor Brian McLaren reminds fellow Christians, "We still have to come to terms with this small but significant detail: Jesus and his message aren't simply a gift to Christians, but to all the people of every religion. And nowhere is that realization more important than when we are seeking to understand and practice the way of Love - in particular, the way of unconditional Love."

P.M.H. Atwater, a deep and tireless researcher on the effects of life-altering brushes with death and peak spiritual experiences, contributes an essay entitled Our Love for God: How It Expands as We Do. She declares, "Our hunger to reconnect with God drives us (even when we deny it). And that hunger is Love based." From her studies into the near-death experience, Atwater has learned that both Christians and non-Christians come back consumed by a Love of God and a Love of their neighbors ... just as Jesus modeled in the gospels.

These and other timely insights are contained in The Love, which is passionately yet humbly narrated by Laurel of The Oracle Institute. Look for The Love at your local bookstore, on Amazon, and at The Oracle Institute website: http://www.TheOracleInstitute.org. The Oracle Institute, based in Hamilton, VA, was founded in 2004 by Laura George. It offers educational books, spirituality classes, and holistic products that are donated by authors and artists who wish to foster the next phase of our collective spiritual evolution.