I've been thinking about love a lot lately. Not romantic love, or the kind of love you feel for friends and family, but just love itself. The kind of love that Jesus spoke of, the kind of love that religions claim, but never really live up to; the universal love that people like Jesus, Mother Teresa, Buddha, Gandhi and so many other great teachers have demonstrated for us; the kind of unconditional love that is spoken of in all the great holy books, but so rarely achieved by human beings.
I aspire to this kind of love, but I don't often achieve it. There are so many conditions that my ego grabs hold of to keep me from this kind of loving; conditions like people doing things that make me angry, conditions like being hurt, or scared, or feeling judged. There are so many times that I allow my ego to take control and separate me from God.
The thing is, God IS love. God loves every living being in existence, no matter what. God loves every bit of his creation, from the smallest grain of sand to the most massive star. God loves the most horrible murderer, even in the middle of his act of murder; and even though he has chosen through his own actions to separate himself from God. God loves the smallest insect, the most beautiful flower, the ugliest human being. God loves the homeless and the wealthy; heterosexuals and homosexuals; black, white, Asian, Hispanic. God loves everyone and everything he has created (and there is nothing that he did not create.) Everything that exists is God's creation, and contains a spark of his divinity, and when I hate any bit of that creation I am hating a piece of God.
Love is the opposite of hate, and when I hate, I am the opposite of God. If I follow a religion that preaches hatred; whether that hatred is of gays, or Christians, or Muslims, or Jews; I am allowing myself to be set against God. If I follow a preacher who preaches hate, and hate because he (or she) says that a certain group should be hated, I allow myself to be made the opposite of God. I place myself in opposition to God, and block the flow of God's love to me and through me.
Jesus taught that we should love one another, and when we hate, we set ourselves against his teaching. When we cause harm to any part of God's creation, by our own actions or by ignoring the harmful actions of someone else, we are rejecting God. How can any one of us claim to be a Christian if we do the exact opposite of what Christ taught?
Love (God) is colorblind
Love (God)
doesn't care about social position or economic status.
Love (God) doesn't care whether a
person lives in a big, fancy house or on the street.
Love (God)
doesn't care what the person has done or left undone.
Love (God)
doesn't care whether a person lives in a good neighborhood or a bad
one.
Love (God) doesn't care what job a person has or even if they
have a job at all.
Love (God) doesn't care who we love,
who we marry, or who we're sexually attracted to.
Love (God)
isn't attached to any particular religion or skin color or
nationality.
Love (God) doesn't care "what's in it for me" or
whether there is any gain involved.
Love (God) helps those who need help,
without conditions or requirements.
Love (God) knows that all
life is a part of itself.
Love (God) knows that
every face we see is the face of God in one of his aspects.
Love
(God) knows that we are all equal, and all equally
loved.
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