Love is not always a virtue. We can love the most inappropriate and destructive things, in the most inappropriate and destructive ways. But this usually only happens when we see ourselves in a state of love. This is love as an adjective. Love as a way to describe how we feel about someone or something – from the banal to the significant.
But in it’s appropriate and constructive application, love is an entirely different thing. It is a force that can create not only personal happiness but also social justice, equality and peace. This happens when we see love as a verb – a word of action.
Just like a dynamo converts mechanical energy (movement) into electrical energy (light, heat etc.) – so too the active expression of love – the movement of love converts our higher intentions of altruism and empathy and concern for others – all others – into energy that has the potential to light up the planet.
Love manifests its reality in deeds, not only in words—these alone are without effect. (1)
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(1) Paris Talks – ‘Abdu’l-Baha
* Dynamo – In physics, a simple generator or machine for transforming mechanical energy into electrical energy.
Good reflection. When people fall “in love” . . . it’s often an image of their own creation they are “in love” with. 😉
Great thoughts! We love in so many different ways.Love truly is the secret to many things, it is limitless, frought with possibilities,- and yet the simplest expression of love is unconditional acceptance that we give each other what we are able to give in that moment.