Love Unbound

 Love never fails. - Paul ( I Corinthians 8a )

'Unconditional Love." I'll say it again; "Unconditional Love!" Does such a thing even exist? Without immediately referring to the dictionary, the notion of loving without any conditions is suspect, especially in this day & age. Another question comes to mind; "Is it even POSSIBLE for one to love without condition?!" To answer this question, much less the first, might prove easier said than done, however. One possible clue. we might note though, is that the former use of the word is a noun, while the latter is a verb. 'What difference does that make?' you might be asking yourself: "cannot love be both objective & subjective ( active )?" Well, yes, it could be well said that Love is both, for as has been written before in the pages of this blog, "love is an action ( a choice )!" 

The 5 Ws ( Who, What, When, Where and Why ) might prove a useful tool in determining whether we as human beings are capable of "unconditional love"! After that, maybe we'll have somewhat of a clearer picture of what exactly it is. Answering these questions will help us to decipher the answer to both of the questions we have been presented.

"Who? To answer this question, we need to ask ourselves. "To whom is this referring?" Are we the "who" in question, or does it refer to "the other"? Jesus said, quoting Leviticus 19:18, "You shall love your neighbor as yourself." This is what I like to call one of the many "Universal Truths" of the Greek & Hebrew Scriptures. One: loving ones neighbor as one loves him or herself requires that one first love themselves. This though, itself might render us a clue as to why society in general is in the state of confusion it is; people ARE loving their neighbor as they love themselves: the problem IS, at least 9 out of 10 people don't love themselves! 

"What?" Moving on, one might well note, without having answered the question of "Who?", maybe "What?" will help to answer THAT question. "What IS love?" Is it a noun, something that defines what is otherwise indefinable, or is it a verb, something which can be directed, at will, at any given object? As a verb, it could well be said, love is always conditional. We may love a thing with all our heart, mind, soul & strength, but "God forbid", that 'thing', the object of our love, should turn its back on us, forsaking us: what person, in all honesty, is going to continue to actively love that thing?! One may continue to hold a love, of sorts, in their heart of hearts for that thing, be it a person or what, but if that person or thing continually repulses, or just plain ignores their pleas, their love will only fall on deaf ears for so long before it moves on.

However, if love is a noun describing a person, place, or thing, then maybe, just maybe, we're getting closer to figuring out what love really is! As a noun, Love being unconditional begins to make sense. A Tree is not a tree because it is healthy. If it is unhealthy, it is a sick tree, but it is still a tree. An animal, be it a bird or a cow, it what it is. Even if it is dead or dying; we do not see it and observe, "there lies something that used to be a bird or a cow". No, it is STILL a bird or a cow; it is simply a dead one ( or dying )! Speaking of the Greek & Hebrew Scriptures, one may read in them that "God is love" ( I John 4:8 ). As this is one of those "Universal Truths", we begin to see how Love could be considered unconditional. Furthering that Truth, however, we can gather from this that we ourselves are Love, for we radiate from that same Source, indeed, we are One with that Source!

"When?" This question, as "Who?", really relies on "What?" If love is simply a feeling, an active, emotional response to certain conditions, then it relies on the fulfillment of those conditions in order to be activated. When those conditions are not met; "as above, so below", that 'love', or the Holder thereof, is most likely going to move on to the next object of their affection. However, "When?" could also be posited thusly; 'When should we love?" Or, "When do we allow our love to rest on someone, be it an object, place or thing?" Obviously, if our love is emotionally based, our feelings, which change like the weather in Montana, are going to dictate when our love comes to rest.

The startling notion, however, that We are Love changes everything! "We, like God, do not change!" Aghast though you may be right now, this statement is true; just as my argument above about the sickly tree or the dead animal, even if we begin to act differently than we ever had previously, for good or ill, we are STILL human beings. Furthermore & more importantly, the statement above does not refer, at least not primarily, to our humanity! The statement in question refers to our inmost Being, our heart of hearts, so to speak, our Divinity, our Oneness with the Source!

"Where?' The possibilities are endless! This question might refer, in the verbal sense, to spreading that shit everywhere, so to speak. Of course, in the objective sense, it could be answered in the same exact way as we have answered the other questions; that Love resides within us, in our humanity, being an integral part of it, yet on a different level, you might say, our Higher or Highest Self, that part of us that is God. In this case then, our answer is much the same; "spread that shit everywhere!" However, the objective answer requires nothing of us, or of anyone else for that matter. In order to objectively "spread that shit everywhere", We must simply BE!

As a verb, love requires us to make a choice; "Where should we spread this shit?" Where the obvious answer is, "Everywhere!", it really isn't that simple, or easy! If this person or that triggers certain feelings, certain emotions, within us, we may well decide that they aren't really worth our time & energy, even that they are detrimental to us. Even when we can look objectively at the situation, we need to consider these feelings & emotions!

"Why?" Now we come to the Ultimate Question, "The Meaning of Life", you might say! Since we are here, both to love & AS Love, we might well ask "Why?"! Why ARE we here? We are here to love, it's been said. Damn right; "we are here to love", but what does that really mean? Does that really mean that we should spread that shit everywhere, indiscriminately pouring our love on good & evil alike, even if it means letting them walk all over us? This goes right back to what Jesus said earlier; "You shall love your neighbor as yourself"; if we don't love ourselves, respect ourselves enough NOT to allow people to walk all over us, then "Yes", that include us playing the part of a veritable doormat. If, however, we have the respect for ourselves that says, "I don't need this kind of negativity in my life", that is not refusing to love them: that is loving yourself. No, that is not being selfish, either; that is being kind to & loving yourself! It is necessary!

While these lines ( the 5 Ws ) may or may not satisfactorily answer the question ( s ) at hand, they may at least provide a base to begin your own search on. "IS it possible to love without condition?" For the overwhelming majority of human beings, the answer to this question is most likely a resounding "NO!" For those, however, who have realized & accepted that We are MORE than this humanity, that We ARE the Unconditional Love we've been looking for, the answer could be called "a moot point"!

While we ARE, as human beings anyway, "here to love": even more importantly, We are here to BE Love! Being More than Human, We ARE Love Itself, but too often, we allow our humanity to 'outshine' the Love that We are! With our Ego, an integral part of our humanity & so, not a necessarily bad thing, along with eons of conditioning, we have 'learned' that not everyone is worthy of our love, even of the Love We are. We have even been conditioned to believe, most of us in fact, that we ourselves are not worthy of our love!

The second part of our answer to the question, "To whom is this referring?' that was posed near the beginning of this post has been answered. As the saying goes, in other words maybe, "If you can't love yourself, you'll never be able to love anybody else". More importantly, when we don't realize the Love We ARE, we tend to get stuck in the endless cycle ( call it "Vicious Circle" ) of feelings. It could also be likened to a roller coaster. Loving ourselves is easy, though it's harder than it sounds, especially when it comes to loving ourselves without condition. Loving others without condition?! Well, that's damn near impossible, no matter how you spin it!

Namaste' & Blessed Be!

Sage Charles