All You Need Is...

It's everywhere and nowhere.  It's the most powerful thing on earth.  Everyone is talking about it.

Love.

The love I'm talking about is spiritual love.  It's supposed to be such a simple concept; yet I don't think I really understand it.  Christianity says, "Love your neighbor."  Buddhist love is about compassion and non-attachment.  Most faiths and traditions celebrate a "God is Love" ethos, at least in spirit if not in practice.

Those of us who practice non-traditional (non-Western) spirituality speak often of "unconditional love."  How am I supposed to love unconditionally?  I'm pretty sure I don't love Halliburton, British Petroleum, Glenn Beck, etc.  There are even a few rare individuals whom I actively dislike (each of whom I worked for at one time).  I pretty much like everybody; some better than others.  And I believe that I have loved unconditionally at some moments in my life.

Perhaps I have trouble understanding the concept of universal unconditional love because I've never experienced being loved unconditionally myself.  It's hard to put something out in the world if you don't truly understand what it feels like.  The closest feeling I can relate to is that of acceptance.  I can feel self-acceptance (most of the time), but that's been a hard row to hoe to get there.

Perhaps for me, acceptance can be my version of unconditional love.  I'm afraid that's the best I can do right now.  I don't feel like it's enough, though, and I want the experience of loving unconditionally in a spiritual way.  I want to open myself up to it, but I'm unsure how.  I don't think anyone can teach us how to do that, and I'm distrustful of (many of) those who say they can.

So, what's a girl to do?  For me, that must mean loosening some of my mistrust and skepticism, while still maintaining a fully functional bullshit detector.  The more I read and study, the better able I am to separate the wisdom from the hokum.  I need friends around me who are also spiritually aware, to share and love.  Friendship is love.  Action can be love.  The natural world is love.  And I want it.

Peace