Quote:
Originally Posted by ReallyGoodIdeas  I've been cogitating on love lately. I reckon it's actually the energy that connects us together and is also what some people call God. I reckon it's everywhere and we are all made up of it.
Rather an all encompassing statement, I suppose.
What do you think?
How do you define love?
Hazel |
My definition of “love” is similar to yours, Hazel.
I was never really satisfied with what the vast majority of people defined as love as they seem to use the word so frivolously such that it has very little meaning or significance when it is supposedly being used “for real”. I’ve never been the most emotional individual and I always felt that there was much more to “love” then the mere expression of sentiment and the feeling one experiences in relation to someone who is close to you (i.e. your partner, a friend, your family, etc). I asked many people what they thought love was and I never got an answer I was satisfied with. They spoke of something profound yet their actions failed to support their definition -- it seemed to be more of a mental concept more then anything. Only much later I realised that my suspicions were perfectly warranted (at least, I think so). Don’t get me wrong, though -- I'm not denying the existence of the more emotional (and what I consider to be person to person “energy” transferral related) “love”, I’d just label it with a word such as “affection” rather then “love” as I feel it is a more accurate description. I hesitate to say that “love” has become a dirty and misused word, but unfortunately, for many people I believe it has.
I’ve only had very brief (non-romantic) experiences with what I’d truly consider to be love (not just the emotional/romantic/person to person energy transferral kind) and they were characterised by an intense sense of joy, complete acceptance of what “is”, and a deep sense of knowing or “feeling realisation” that everything is connected. Based on my experiences, it is something that simply cannot be expressed in words or understood by the mind; it is something that has to be felt, but not emotionally -- it is more so something you experience as part of, and at the same time, with your whole being -- your entire sense of awareness -- as you blend in with everything around you and the illusionary veil of separation drops away. You can certainly use the mind to describe it as a concept, but the concept is nothing more then a signpost pointing to what is being described and is by no means a substitute for the real thing. Overall, I believe love is more of a state then a temporary feeling that is subject to change. I believe the state can induce feelings, but the feelings do not characterise the state entirely.
Prior to my experiences I had read about the concept of non-duality, but it was a flat, empty concept to me. I understood it completely mentally, but I had not yet “realised” it and it was completely foreign to me in an experiential sense; I lacked the experience to give meaning to the word. Moving back to the present time, I’m pleased to have glimpses of the state as it gives me a direction to head in -- a heading, if you will. I’m unable to maintain the state consciously, but I believe that’s because I don’t meet the necessary requirements. It’s like trying to reach something that is suspended high up in the air beyond your reach. You jump up at it from where you are currently standing and temporarily experience what is associated with it if you manage to latch onto a ledge, but these experiences will only be fleeting at best and eventually you'll slip off and fall back down to your original position. If you want to make your way up there and stay up there, you need to build a solid base -- a staircase of sorts -- that will lead you to your destination in a more sustainable manner. I believe the
Levels of Consciousness scale Steve posted is fairly accurate in regards to the analogy I used. I can’t prove that “scientifically”, but it seems to be a decent guideline when I compare my experiences to the scale.
That said, I could be wrong... maybe in 5 years time I’ll look back at what I wrote here and think “hmmm, what was I smoking back then?!”. I've certainly been wrong in the past (or so my memories tell me... oh, and other people
), but that's just part of the terrain of the path of continuous self-improvement. With that in mind, I generally prefer to make judgements and have an opinion on something rather then indecisively sitting on the fence all the time, but I’m completely open to making new realisations and completely overhauling whatever beliefs or opinions I have. Amusingly enough, I find many people find this quality to be somewhat frustrating as I never seem to be an accurate match for whatever people label me with (at least, not for long).
I think
Steve has a similar problem (see the last paragraph of the article after the "wink" emoticon).