Ah, the topic of love for other humans. Your mind may instantly go to romantic love. It memorises the human race and sends artists and poets and writers into a frenzy. As Rumi said: “A pen went scribbling along. When it tried to write love, it broke.” The euphoria and earth-shattering pleasure and lust of falling in love. The honour of truly being seen by another human. The authentic intimacy created by being vulnerable in front of a loved one. The deep bond and entanglement of committed lovers that grows like a yew tree. The shock and despair and grief of a broken heart or a lost lover.
But our lifelong pursuit of connection to others is not just about romantic love, it is about connection to our family, our friends, our communities. It is about opening the heart space to allow many different forms of intimacy in. It is about choosing love over fear in all our daily actions. It is about choosing love over darkness, judgment, jealously and attack.
Despite all of our differences across the planet, love is what we all share. No matter who we are, where we've come from, what we believe, we know this one thing: that love – in all its forms – is the great unifier – our one universal truth. As Robert Holden says; “All the happiness, health and abundance you experience in life comes directly from your ability to love and be loved.”
We, as exquisitely sentient creatures of this beautiful planet, have the ability to make the conscious choice to not numb our emotions, but to let ourselves be seen, truly and authentically, with all our vulnerabilities broadcast to the world. We must work to unravel all the counter-productive, protective and defensive layers around our armoured hearts. We must lay down our armour as we hold up the white flag of surrender. We must learn to love like a child again. In a truly authentic way, without fear and with full acknowledgement of our vulnerabilities, because that is the birthplace of so much beauty.
“Even after all this time the sun never says to the earth, ‘You owe me.’
Look what happens with a love like that.
It lights the whole sky.”
Poet Hafiz (Persian Poet)