In this realm, 'love' is about how someone makes you feel, it's emotional, it's psychological, it's about physical attraction, it's about hormones, it's about being with someone so you don't feel alone etc.
This isn't true love because you're thinking about what the person can do for you. We know it's not true love because of the growing divorce rates and the number of relationships that deteriorate.
Spiritual love, true love, unconditional love is about bestowal/love of others/altruism, it's about seeking to benefit others instead of yourself. It's about thinking of others and doing everything you can to benefit them.
The closest example in this world is how a mother cares for her baby. She does everything she can to make it happy. She doesn't think about herself, she thinks only about her baby.
Another example is if you like pizza and your friend likes spaghetti, you make spaghetti to benefit your friend, you don't make pizza because you're not seeking to benefit yourself.
We all need love and love is a two way street of giving and receiving:
- I seek to benefit you: so I give you love and you receive from me
- You seek to benefit me: so you give me love and I receiving from you
In this way we become interconnected and interdependent. Since I know that you need love and that love makes you happy, I seek to benefit you, I engage in altruistic acts towards you, acts that demonstrate my love towards you. And you reciprocate by doing the same for me.
In this way, we become connected with each other in mutual responsibility as we each seek to benefit the other. We become genuinely concerned for the welfare and well-being of each other.
This makes us happy in two ways: first, we feel love and second we feel connected with each other. The two things that make us happy - love and connection.
Love (seeking to benefit others) is a universal law, it is the law of nature, it is the law in the spiritual realm, it is the fundamental law in The Bible and The Quran, God Himself is love.
It is written, "Love Yahweh your Elohim with all your heart, with all your soul, and with all your strength." (Deuteronomy 6:5, NOGB)
Meaning, be in the quality of bestowal/love of others/altruism with all your desires and with all your thoughts. Seek to benefit others instead of yourself.
It is also written, "... you shall love your neighbor as yourself..." (Leviticus 19:18, NKJV) Meaning, seek to benefit others, your neighbour, instead of yourself.
Why would we engage in this behaviour? Why should we seek to benefit others instead of ourselves? For two reasons: one, to benefit each other and two, to make God happy.
How does this make God happy? How does this bring contentment to The Creator?
In several ways: first, God commands us to love each other, so by loving each other we demonstrate our love for God because we do what He commands. We do what He asks us to do because we love Him and this makes Him happy.
Second, when we benefit each other, we make each other happy and when we're happy, God is happy.
Lastly, when we seek to benefit each other, we not only become connected with each other in mutual responsibility, we become connected with God in quality. When we're connected with God in quality, we make Him happy.
Copyright © 2013, Carter Kagume. All Rights Reserved.
