Claim. SMM argues that love is ontologically prior to life: God did not generate love by first creating living beings; rather, life began because love arose first in God’s heart.
Elaboration. The claim is stated plainly in section 1.1: “Love is most important. We do not say life is most important just because our world came from God’s life… The source of life and the motivation for life is love. The reason life came into being is because of love” (1.1.-the-work-of-creation-required-complete-investment, 38-152, 1971.1.3).
Section 2.1 reinforces this order: “God did not generate love by first creating life. In other words, life began because love started budding in God’s heart. Since life started from love, the result must also be produced through love” (ibid, 57-21, 1972.5.21).
The implication is significant: if love is the starting condition rather than a property of life, then the fundamental category of reality is relational rather than biological or energetic. This aligns with the Principle’s framing of give-and-take as the prime mechanism and pushes against any reading that makes survival or vitality the primary divine motivation.
See also. csg-god-cannot-love-without-a-partner