Not that one ever needs a reason to talk about Love, but with Valentine's Day coming up next week, I wanted to use this as an opportunity to get people thinking more about Love on a day where it's already on our minds.
You see the thing that I want to know is: when did Love become exclusive? When did it become something that we give only our people and not everyone else? And I'm not talking about romantic, physical or sexual love. I'm talking about Love: the force in the universe that holds us all together. The force that is within us all, and is us all. The force that is benevolent, unselfish, unprejudiced and kind. The Love that I'm speaking of is meant to be given; it's meant to be shared with everyone and everything.
Why are all of us not taught this from a young age? We're taught to be polite and kind to strangers, but why not to feel oneness with them, to connect with them for they too are just like us, and suffering in the same ways, the same lessons, the same paths, the same deaths. Why are we not taught about a Love that unifies rather than isolates? That is the Love of God we are told, but why not the Love of humans? Aren't we created in the reflection of this God we speak of? So then, aren't we too capable of this absolute Love? Then why so exclusive?
Imagine what our world would look like if more of us believed this and lived inclusively with our Love! Not withdrawing it from anyone or anything. Now I'm not saying to trust everyone or to put yourself in an uncomfortable or dangerous situation because you're trying to be inclusive in your Love—for starters, that's not Love, it's being smart and it has nothing to do with the Love of which I speak. Even when you don't trust or like someone, it's possible—and I'd argue even necessary—to Love them, to see them for what they are in their essence and nothing else, to recognize our oneness and, perhaps more importantly, their human-ness.
So how do you Love someone in the way that I am attempting to describe here, especially when you don't know or even like them?
By recognizing that you have a well of unconditional, ever-flowing Love inside of you. By truly allowing yourself to understand that we are all on the same journey here and that in the depths of our beings, our souls are one. By learning to allow others to be exactly as they are and accepting them for what they are, regardless of our opinion about them. After all, does someone who acts unkind or foolish or selfish deserve any less Love? Does anyone deserve less Love? Aren't the individuals who are suffering the most in need of the most Love? Don't they need us to see beyond their physical actions and wrongdoings and have compassion for the suffering that must be engulfing their hearts? Aren't they the ones who need the most reminder of their inner truth and Light? Hate begets hate. But Love! Love heals all, creating more Love in its wake.
Take a moment to think about that, to truly ruminate on it, and then ask yourself how you can Love inclusively today. Ask yourself how you can teach others to do the same through your example. Ask yourself how you can learn to practice this daily, for Love is, and was always, meant to be inclusive.
Love + Light,
~Smita :)