And Jesus is not alone. The growing phenomenon of near-death experiences have repeatedly stressed the profound importance of love and relationships. According to these experiences, our success or failure as human beings is measured almost entirely in terms of how well we love. A growing number of psychologists, therapists and healers also affirm the importance of love and relationships. And, perhaps most important of all, there are the brave souls in trenches: in spiritual communities, in marriages, in groups that are sincerely seeking to follow Spirit. They, too, affirm that all paths eventually lead to love; love, they all agree, is the means to the end as well as the end itself.

So what does all this mean? I believe it means the time has finally come for those of us who really want to find peace and happiness, who hunger to return to God, to embrace the path of relationships. To open our hearts and minds to love, to marriage, to communities, to exploring the depths of other human beings. This is where real healing and transformation lies.

To be sure, learning to love one another is a messy, painful, confusing business. But if we do the difficult work of removing the blocks within us that keep us separated from one another, glorious experiences await us. We can, I believe, expect not only to have deeply fulfilling human relationships while living here, in this world, but we can also expect to transcend all time, space and ordinary human limitations. Some of us may, in fact, have already caught a glimpse of what awaits us....