Month 11 prompt: What a journey this has been! We have turned within ourselves for deep self-evaluation. We have developed skills and tools to continue to understand ourselves and our relationships with others and the planet. We have begun to reach out into the world with the intentions of compassionate and harmonious interactions. And, with gratitude for everything, for there are things to learn from everything, we are ready to be truly selfless beings: to love.
For the eleventh month, meditate on loving. Love is a truly selfless act, not something to be possessed. When you choose to love, you choose to be kind, generous, compassionate, and caring towards others and the world around you. There are no conditions when you choose to love. Love just is.
For this journal entry, I am re-posting the following, since many have said to me they do not know what love is. They are expecting it to be an extra special emotion, but really it is a choice, a choice to live from the heart and soul rather than from the mind and body…
What is love? My brother summed up the answer to this perennial question best: Love is a verb. No, it’s not just a morpheme used to make a syntactical structure grammatical, but an action. Love is acting selflessly, doing what is best for others, and giving unconditionally.
For eons we’ve tried to understand what love is, but we’ve gotten stuck thinking that love is a noun – an object or person to be possessed. No one can ever own another’s feelings, choices, or actions. Love is not something that can be bought, earned, or taken. Love is a choice to let go of our selfish egos, and live with compassion and kindness. Selfishness and love are like oil and water. They just can’t mix.
Many of us go through our daily lives saying: we love this, that, him, or her…but then turn around and not take care of and disrespect those very things and people. What we really meant to say was that we like, desire, lust for, and wish to possess those things and people. The drives of the ego usually end up damaging and hurting others in some way. That is not love.
Love is unconditional and selfless. To love is to be responsible for everything that our intentions, thoughts, and actions do to both animate and inanimate objects. When we love our homes, we keep them clean and maintain them. When we love the planet, we do our best to reduce, reuse, and recycle. When we love our pets, we give them the care, discipline, and the attention they need. When we love another person, we repect their needs and do nothing that might contribute or lead to their suffering. When we love, we have compassion and the wish to do what is best for others.
Love is the highest vibration. All we need is…to love.
All the joy the world contains
Has come through wishing happiness for others.
All the misery the world contains
Has come through wanting pleasure for oneself.
– Shantideva 8:129
Even after all this time the sun never says to the earth, “You owe me.” Look what happens with a love like that – it lights up the whole world.
– Hafiz, Persian Poet
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Through the Peacock's Eyes 
Beautifully written words of truth 🙂
Thanks Rory! Sending much love and light your way! 😀
Wonderful post about love. I also enjoy that Hafiz quote. We may have been born into this plane hard wired to behave lovingly, but so many of us are really confused about love ( myself included)
Namaste,
Linda
So beautifully said. I would like to add that the same goes in spades for marriage and other “romantic” relationships.
Hi Julianne! Yes, what a special time we are in NOW – and your 7-7-14 (2014 is also 7, so 7-7-7) post is perfect – and the Hafiz word is one of my favorites – can hear it over and over!
I made an addition to my last post on the movement of discontinuity that I want to share with you:
“This new dimension is a movement of discontinuity. We discover that which all wisdom teachings speak of: each moment is unique and absolutely free of all residue from former moments of NOW. It is only our capacity to re-member that creates a connection between each pristine moment. When we see that it is our mind that holds on to a sense of causality and interdependence of phenomena we are free of the past.
“Not that we no longer experience things as connected and sense the total interconnectedness of all things, but we realize that this whole dimension of phenomena is part of the conditioned mind-flow and that we are not bound by it. Each moment is then a world, a universe of its own and we are free to be with it in its fullness, no longer distracted by the compulsion to include it into a complex frame of reference of ‘past’ and ‘future’.”
much love,
tomas
Hi Tomas! Great to hear from you! 7 has always been a favorite number of mine. 🙂 It’s also my life path number. Beautiful addition to your post! Thank you so much for sharing it here. Have a beautiful day! Namaste _/l\_
Got my butterfly journal today 🙂 Thank you for creating it!
Yay! Thank you! I hope it is helpful for you! Namaste _/l\_
Love this post ♥
These descriptions give many sides to the idea of love. As you’ve shown us, Love is complex, but simple. It’s complex when you haven’t learned to love yourself due to pain memories from former attempts at finding love (usually starts in childhood). It’s simple once you find a way of letting the stories of your past go……..and allowing love to “just be”.
Your contribution to the collective love of this planet’s inhabitants is appreciated!
Wow, thank you for your lovely comment! Namaste _/l\_
Just beautiful! A gorgeous post. I love your sentiments on loving. It’s a love manifesto! Thanks for re-sharing it with the lovely prompt. Loving is like an addicting sport – I want to do it some more!
Sincerely, Precious