February Blog – 2022
What is your definition of LOVE?
Growing up in a very religious home, I heard a lot about Love. If we siblings didn’t get along, my mother would remind us what we learned from the Bible. “Love one Another” – “Hatred stirs up conflict, but love covers over all wrongs.” – “Do everything in love.” The older I became, the more verses I memorized about Love. However, it isn’t always easy to show or express Love in words.
To me, “Love” is similar to “Walk the Talk.” I keep learning because Love comes on many levels. For example, romantic Love, Agape Love, and a parent’s Love for a child.
When I was in college eons ago, I took a course on Philosophy of Religion. After each paragraph, the Professor asked us to write comments and compare them with our religion. I couldn’t believe how many similarities there were, worded differently, of course. (If you ever want to read a good book on Zen, read “Zeb Flesh, Zen Bones” by Paul Reps & Nyogen Senzaki.)
Here are some of my favorite readings regarding LOVE.
1 Corinthians 13 – New International Version
13 If I speak in the tongues[a] of men or angels, but do not have Love, I am only a resounding gong or a clanging cymbal. 2 If I have the gift of prophecy and can fathom all mysteries and all knowledge. If I have faith that I can move mountains but do not have Love, I am nothing. 3 If I give all I possess to the poor and give over my body to hardship that I may boast,[b] but do not have Love, I gain nothing.
4 Love is patient; Love is kind. It does not envy; it does not boast; it is not proud. 5 It does not dishonor others, it is not self-seeking, it is not easily angered, it keeps no record of wrongs. 6 Love does not delight in evil but rejoices with the truth. 7 It always protects, always trusts, always hopes, always perseveres.
8 Love never fails. But where there are prophecies, they will cease; where there are tongues, they will be stilled; where there is knowledge, it will pass away. 9 For we know in part and we prophesy in part, 10 but when completeness comes, what is in part disappears.11 When I was a child, I talked like a child, thought like a child, and reasoned like a child. When I became a man, I put the ways of childhood behind me. 12 For now, we see only a reflection as in a mirror; then we shall see face to face. Now I know in part; then I shall know fully, even as I am fully known.
13 And now these three remain faith, hope, and Love. But the greatest of these is Love.
What is Love explained by a Monk
True Love contains four elements: kindness, compassion, fun, and serenity. Kindness can help us become happy a ray of sunshine in someone’s life. Compassion in turn creates a more profound relationship because two become one, the suffering of one becomes part of the other.
When we feed and support our own happiness, we are nourishing our ability to love. That’s why to love means to learn the art of nourishing our happiness. The more you understand, the more you love; the more you love, the more you understand. They are two sides of one reality. The mind of Love and the mind of understanding are the same.
From the Native American
When you have learned about Love, you have learned about God. — Fox proverb
What are your thoughts on this topic?
