Every person on this planet experiences love and friendship to some extent during their lifetime. Love can be broken down into three basic areas according to its level of intensity, quality and its challenges.

The first form of love is friendship which is based on social conventions where two people behave in accordance with the principle: “I for myself, you for yourself; we love each other, but we have no expectations of each other.” This form of love is that of ordinary people, whose love relationships tend to be of this nature.

The second form of love is based on a more solid foundation, and those who live together usually experience this kind of love: “I for you, you for me; we love each other, having mutual expectations of each other.” This form of love includes profound love as well as the love found within most families, involving emotional give and take on a more or less equal footing.

The third kind of love transcends all conventions based on mutual expectations, being founded on the following principle: “I am for you, you are for whoever you choose; I accept whatever you want without any expectations whatsoever.”

But what about the love of mankind? The love for our planet? For our environment? And for the creatures living alongside us? How can we define this love and how is this love affected by hatred, cruelty, religious beliefs and greed!

Poets and authors have tried to define love for many centuries. Many of us know intuitively that love is a major purpose for living; that connection is inherent in all that we do, and without love, we cannot survive as a species.

• True Love is Caring. It cares for the other person, for the other creature and for the environment
• True Love is Attractive..Like attracts like. I we give love we are likely to receive love, like a smile and laughter they become infectious.
• True Love is Attached. Like the mother-child bond, attachment comes after the initial attraction. Attachment is the long-term love that appears anywhere. “I’ve seen the worst and the best you have to offer, and I still love you,” while your partner feels the same way.
• True Love is Committed. When it comes to true love, commitment is more than just monogamy. It’s the knowledge that your partner cares for you and has your back, no matter what the circumstances.
True Love is Intimate. Intimacy is a crucial component of all relationships, regardless of their nature. In order to know another, you need to share parts of yourself. This self-revealing behavior, when reciprocated, forms an emotional bond. Over time this bond strengthens and even evolves, so that two people merge closer and closer together.

Have we forgotten how to love?

We are all born with love in our hearts, unfortunately bad experiences and negative teachings / mind bending messages and negative thought patterns takes it away from us over the years, however the majority of people keep enough love inside their hearts to continue to love others, to care for others that they are not connected to or for that matter on the other side of the world, this form of love is often called compassion, we all need compassion in our hearts in order to make change. Just as wisdom covers the intellectual or comprehending side of our nature, compassion covers the emotional or feeling side of our nature. Like wisdom, compassion is a uniquely human quality. Compassion is made up of two words, ‘co’ meaning together and ‘passion’ meaning a strong feeling. And this is what compassion is. When we see someone in distress and we feel their pain as if it were our own, and strive to eliminate or lessen their pain, then this is compassion. So all the best in human beings, all the qualities like sharing, readiness to give comfort, sympathy, concern and caring – all are manifestations of compassion. You will notice also that in the compassionate person, care and love towards others has its origins in care and love for oneself. We can really understand others when we really understand ourselves. We will know what’s best for others when we know what’s best for ourselves. We can feel for others when we feel for ourselves. So, one’s own spiritual development blossoms quite naturally into concern for the welfare of others.

If we can open our eyes and our hearts, really take a look at the world we live in, see the suffering endured by our brothers and sisters around the world. Filter out our past beliefs, just for a moment and look at the people as fellow human beings, no difference in colour, creed or religious belief then…for one minute it may make a difference and we may open our hearts, our eyes and our minds to change, change for the benefit of all, change for the benefit of global peace, for our children and our children’s children….

Just think….a world without war!
Just think….a world without disease!
Just think….a world without hunger!
Just think….a world filled with LOVE ☺

Namaste with Love
Always
Mark