Excerpted from Sacred Relationships by Anaiya Sophia and Padma Aon

Love without power dissolves into an astral, weak fairy tale. Love without strength crumbles into an ungrounded, chaotic mess. Power without love becomes a game of control, fear, and tyranny. Discipline without joy becomes an intense, self-defeating, oppressive hell. These polarities of power and compassion, surrender and will, direct penetration and gentle opening, fire and water, can all merge into one seamless flow. Each quality is used at different times to create the most appropriate change. One reason why so few people have reached awakening is that they have taken one or the other path and not included both. Many beings are scared to shine their full light and power, too afraid to stand out.

With drive, anything that stands in the way of your growth is dealt with swiftly: any attachment, any fear, any emotion, any person of any sort that hinders or distracts from your goal is healed, released, or removed. Drive cuts through any and all illusions and ignorance to awaken the soul. It is death to the masks of the wounded self and surrender in action to self and the beloved. Drive is unmoved by worldly troubles, cares, or concerns. It is direct, clear movement that dissolves obstacles in its way, cutting through the tap roots of egoism, no matter how its actions are perceived by others. It is compassion for the soul and the bigger picture; it is not stopped by the protestations of society, parents, friends, or the wounded self.

It is personal power harnessed to divine will.

Once truly ignited it can never be stopped until all obstacles and ignorance are destroyed. Drive provides rapidly accelerated evolution—where no stone is left unturned—and is for those that wish to be fully enlightened, no matter what. With drive, one is ready and willing to do absolutely anything to awaken. Drive involves accepting what you need to grow, rather than what you want.

Comfort and fitting in to our wound-driven society are low on the list of priorities for those with drive. For this reason the actions of drive are often not appreciated until well after it has been received and can initially be greeted by the wounded self with judgment, resentment, and anger. The heart of drive is the heart of spaciousness, which allows others to be in their pain and suffering so they may grow. It is relentless in that it is not stopped by pain or suffering; it feels all without hiding, flinching, or avoiding. This is the heart of acceptance, accepting what must be for the highest good. Drive requires great passion, inner balance, dedication, and wisdom to flow with it and implement its actions and directions.

Wisdom here is the ability to see beyond appearances to the true clinging, suffering, and need of a person. Acting on this directly arises from being objective, calm, and clear in understanding how and why the wounded self protects, hides, and cloaks itself. Drive is a way of being that arises when one is fully dedicated to self and God (or Source). It is uncompromising, direct, and unflinching. Drive is action orientated. It does, not thinks about doing, or talks about doing. It is love made manifest through action. Holy desire is the engine of your car; drive is the four wheels of your car. Drive is courage in the world and is the external application of holy desire. Drive collects all the pieces of yourself that you need to get to what, whom, and where you desire to be, to become, and to go.

Paradoxically drive becomes a process of surrender that grinds down anything that stands in the way between your pure soul and your wounded or lower self. This leads to total harmlessness, as no reaction, no harm, can affect you when you have no harm, no violence, no triggers left within you. Then these forces can be wielded in order to serve love effectively, as and when required. Sometimes the bludgeon is required. The bludgeon that cuts to the bone, that illumines illusion in the most direct and uncompromising manner.

My friends, do not compromise with the illusion in yourself and others. Be radically honest, for this serves love. Be frank, be directly engaging, and do not shirk your responsibility toward the growth of your soul.

Drive leads people into the dark night of the soul. Drive builds up people’s characters and dissolves their small selves, to lead them into an awakening that will have true impact as it is based on authentic, deep, lived experiences of the darkest places a human being can go. Once you have lived through this experience, then anything is possible for you. You have reclaimed your power from the darkness and can now wield it yourself. Drive forges the soul into a diamond, by burning the dross away, leaving only that which is immortal. The doubts, the voices, the trials, and the tribulations are all voices of the tempter that does not wish you to stand in your power, in the truth. Here there is no “your” truth or “my” truth; there is only one truth that we both align to.