Love
The heart decides, and what it decides is all that really matters.
"One doesn't love in order to do what is good or to protect someone. If we act that way, we are perceiving the other as a simple object, and we are seeing ourselves as wise and generous persons. This has nothing to do with love. To love is to be in communion with the other and to discover in that the other the spark."
A SPANISH MISSIONARY was visiting an island when he came across three Aztec priests.
“How do you pray?” the missionary asked.
“We only have one prayer,” answered one of the Aztecs. “We say, ‘God, you are three, we are three. Have pity on us.”
“A beautiful prayer,” said the missionary. “But it is not exactly the one that God heeds. I’m going to teach you one that’s much better.”
The padre taught them a Catholic prayer and then continued on his path to evangelism. Years later, when he was returning to Spain, his ship stopped again at the island. From the deck, the misonary saw the three priests on the shore and waved to them.
Just then, the three men began to walk across the water toward him. “Padre, Padre!” one of them called, approaching the ship. “Teach us again that prayer that God heeds. We’ve forgotten how it goes.”
“It doesn’t matter,” responded the missionary, witnessing the miracle. And he promptly asked God’s forgiveness for failing to recognize that He speaks all languages…
…the spiritiual experience is above all a practical experience of love. And with love, there are no rules. Some may try to control their emotions and develop strategies for their behavior; others may turn to reading books of advice frrom “experts” on relationships-but this is all folly. The heart decides, and what it decides is all that really matters.
All of us have had this experience. At some point, we have said through our tears, “I’m suffering for a love that’s not worth it” We suffer because we are giving more than we receive. We suffer because our love is going unrecognized. We suffer because we are unable to impose our own rules.
But ultimately there is not good reason for suffering, for in every love lies the seed of our growth. The more we love, the closer we come to the spiritual experience. Those who are truly enlightened, those whose souls are illuminated by love, have been able to overcome all the inhibitions and preconceptions of their era…they have been joyful-because those who conquer the world have no fear of loss. True love is an act of total surrender.
Sooner or later we have to overcome our fears, because the spiritual path can only be traveled through the daily experience of love.
- Paulo Coelho, 1994
Religion and love have been the artistic theme to the past few days. This is the best answer I have come across trying to work them out for myself. Sometimes you need to stop looking to find something.
