When we were created as spirits in the premortal world, we were created into love. This is our natural state. This is why love feels so good to us. It feels like we are at home there. But in the premortal world, we had not experienced the opposite: fear. Therefore, we could not fully comprehend what we had. We could not experience a fullness of joy. Coming to earth, and taking upon us a mortal body, provided the opportunity to experience fear. This only happens when we are separated from God. It is our fear that keeps us from feeling the love of God that our spirits crave and that is our birthright as sons and daughters of God: Fear that we are not good enough; fear that we won't have enough; fear that we won't be loved and accepted by others and by God. To whatever degree we allow fear into our hearts, love leaves. And to whatever degree we are able to allow our fears to die, love automatically comes to fill the vacuum in our heart. The first and great commandment is to love the Lord thy God with all our hearts. The second is to love our neighbor as ourselves. This should come as no surprise because as we learn to open and soften our hearts to experience this love, we have had to learn how to banish our fears. We have returned to that original state we were born into as spirits. But now we comprehend what a blessing it is to feel this love. We know what it is like to feel the absence of it. We now understand what good and evil are. We understand that anything that is good is inspired by love. Conversely, anything that is evil is inspired by fear. Truly, fear leads to death of both body and spirit. But charity, the pure love of Christ, endureth forever. We are commanded to love God, ourselves and each other so that we can have a fullness of joy; returning to the love that is our birthright, but now being able to comprehend what a great blessing it is to us, having now experienced its opposite; having now consciously chosen love over fear; good over evil.
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