Stolen from a friend's blog:
The following is attributed to Dan Barker. I don't know if he really exists or if he really said it, but I don't care. This is brilliant and simple:
"I do understand what love is, and that is one of the reasons I can never again be a Christian. Love is not self denial. Love is not blood and suffering. Love is not murdering your son to appease your own vanity. Love is not hatred or wrath, consigning billions of people to eternal torture because they have offended your ego or disobeyed your rules. Love is not obedience, conformity, or submission. It is a counterfeit love that is contingent upon authority, punishment, or reward. True love is respect and admiration, compassion and kindness, freely given by a healthy, unafraid human being."
"I do understand what love is, and that is one of the reasons I can never again be a Christian. Love is not self denial. Love is not blood and suffering. Love is not murdering your son to appease your own vanity. Love is not hatred or wrath, consigning billions of people to eternal torture because they have offended your ego or disobeyed your rules. Love is not obedience, conformity, or submission. It is a counterfeit love that is contingent upon authority, punishment, or reward. True love is respect and admiration, compassion and kindness, freely given by a healthy, unafraid human being."
posted by Kalanchoe542 at
3:07 AM
2 Comments:
It is so much easier to recognize what love is not.
I recently heard a definition of love that said it was simply putting someone else's welfare ahead of your own. Thinking about this caused some perturbation of "the force" recently, owing to my particular circumstances. I finally realized that this definition is inadequate. There are ethical considerations surrounding the effect that one has on another's well-being that have nothing to do with love.
*****
Some say love, it is a river
that drowns the tender reed.
Some say love, it is a razor
that leaves your soul to bleed.
Some say love, it is a hunger,
an endless aching need.
I say love, it is a flower,
and you its only seed.
It's the heart afraid of breaking
that never learns to dance.
It's the dream afraid of waking
that never takes the chance.
It's the one who won't be taken,
who cannot seem to give,
and the soul afraid of dying
that never learns to live.
When the night has been too lonely
and the road has been to long,
and you think that love is only
for the lucky and the strong,
just remember in the winter
far beneath the bitter snows
lies the seed that with the sun's love
in the spring becomes the rose.
ILD
By
breakerslion, at 8:34 PM
It is indeed a conundrum. If putting someone else's welfare ahead of your own is the only criterion for the definition of love, then I must love a hell of a lot more people than I ever realized. Sometimes you have to put their welfare first because they would wither and die without it, but it doesn't mean you have to devote your entire life to it. Better to do what you can and be able to sleep at night, and still retain the dream and the spark within to see your way to your heart's desire:
Perhaps love is like a resting place
A shelter from the storm
It exists to give you comfort
It is there to keep you warm
And in those times of trouble
When you are most alone
The memory of love will bring you home
Perhaps love is like a window
Perhaps an open door
It invites you to come closer
It wants to show you more
And even if you lose yourself
And don`t know what to do
The memory of love will see you through
Oh, love to some is like a cloud
To some as strong as steel
For some a way of living
For some a way to feel
And some say love is holding on
And some say letting go
And some say love is everything
And some say they don`t know
Perhaps love is like the ocean
Full of conflict, full of Pain
Like a fire when it`s cold outside
Or thunder when it rains
If I should live forever
And all my dreams come true
My memories of love will be of you
By
Kalanchoe542, at 10:16 PM
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