A Christmas Reflection on the Nature of Love, For and To Ryan

I think a great deal about Love these days.

 

The Greeks classified different qualities of Love (Agape, Philia, Eros) in a perceptive way;  however, as if referential to the Christian Trinity, there is in my view a commonality at the core of the three designations.  The commonality features empathy, commitment, abiding concern that travels far beyond the self to hope and strive for that which is best for the person, group, or other entity loved.

 

Love is so clearly that which is best in the major world faiths:  Jesus’s abiding and demonstrated Love for people in general and in all particularities;  Yahweh’s enduring love for the Hebrews amidst wrenching emotional struggle on the part of the worshiped and the worshiper;  the calmly intense compassion of the Buddha;  and the highly singular devotion to Allah as Divine Expression of the Perfect on the part of Muslim practitioners of Islam.

 

As I express in “Nativity 2018,” Love is all that matters:

 

Without Love, all details of professed importance in ritual, creed, and theology fade to status as sham expressions by those who have no idea what genuine spirituality entails.  Love is all encompassing, proceeding from the best and most powerful and poetic expressions and formulations of each of the great faiths, to include all who walk the globe on this one earthly sojourn:

 

Love is universal empathy.

 

As a rule, I have seen mostly inadequate expressions of love that fall short of Love.  This is globally true, observed in people across continental locales.  People have a hard time not advocating adherence to social norms and familial expectations while manifesting faux love, without compelling connection to universal moral values.  Those people are rare who can put personal ego and selfish preferences aside to consider only what is best for the loved one.

 

St. Paul’s atypically poetic formulation in Corinthians I, Verse 13 is magnificent but flawed:

 

Love is patient, rejoices in the right, and bears, endures, and maintains hope through all challenges.  Love is not arrogant, nor is Love resentful or irritable as emotions emanating from the ego. 

 

But in the public forum, Love can be an expression of irritation with those who manifest petty disregard for the public good, and of anger over the treatment of particular groups of people, especially those who are vulnerable and who have suffered abuse historically.  And Love can be angry and rude in the perception of those who are guilty:  those violating the purposes of the Temple, those staffing White Citizens Councils, those who perpetuate abusive educational systems.   

 

Love is the core of Faith and Morality. 

 

Love is that which unites genuinely spiritual people within and across the great faiths.

 

And if our capacity for understanding ourselves ever equals and then exceeds our technological and destructive capacity, Love will guide us toward the Potential of Being on this one earthly sojourn.

 

………………………………………………………………………..

 

I love you and I Love you, My Dear Son, and I am so proud that you are yourself a person of love and Love---  


Gary