Synonyms For Love

Love is a small word with a big meaning. So as a follow up to I Love You, I am writing my thoughts on love.

Love and the heart

I am not talking about love as opposed to hate. That’s the conditional love based on calculation. I am not talking about love as obsession or possessiveness.

What I mean by love is the natural flow of energy when we open our hearts. (Whereas obsession and possessiveness close the heart.) So love is hard to define, just as the “I” is hard to define. But still, let me work around love. . .

Love is acceptance

Acceptance is a close synonym of love. When I accept someone or something as they are, I am opening my heart and loving them.

For those of you who thought “Acceptance? That’s all?”, may I ask who accept you exactly who you are. My parents wanted me to be one way or the other, as they fancied, and I think this is a pretty typical case. I am currently unattached, but even when I was married, I don’t think he accepted the whole me. So acceptance — complete acceptance — is a big deal.

Acceptance is the same with allowing when something is happening. In other words, no resistance. I don’t know who said this, but I like the quote:

Love means never saying I told you so.

Love is appreciation

Appreciation and gratitude are also synonyms of love. The key is to appreciate everything, not just what you think is good. To love something totally, appreciate both the sunny side and the shadow side.

Obviously, to accept and to appreciate, we need to notice. Consider this quote:

The opposite of love is not hate, it’s indifference.
The opposite of art is not ugliness, it’s indifference.
The opposite of faith is not heresy, it’s indifference.
And the opposite of life is not death, it’s indifference. — Elie Wiesel

Love is … forgiveness?

Forgiveness is a form of love. However, most forgiveness is done from the head rather than from the heart.

Real forgiveness is being okay with it. So when you see someone you intend to forgive, and you are the same you as you always are, then you have forgiven. Or when a memory wells up and you can say in your mind, “Hi, memory, do you need something from me?”, then you have forgiven. (And the memory automatically disappears.)

Are there other ways to say “I love you”? Let me know. With love, acceptance, and appreciation.
(Photo credit)

I Love You

The message

I realize the focus and the tone of this blog, Real Life Spirituality, is changing somewhat, so I’d like to give you some heads-up.

There is only one thing I wish to communicate: I love you.

The only thing that is happening in the whole Universe is love. The Source is the source of love energy. There is no energy of hate. Everything that appears to be non-love is ultimately an illusion. Or consider it as the misdirected love energy that is seeking to return to love.

Some people choose to call Source God. So God is love.

The Source is also the one Consciousness. One single Consciousness in awareness of itself. When I see myself in you, in everyone and everything, how can I not love you? Love is the default, the beginning and the end, with no opposite.

The challenge

The challenge here is this love, this awareness, cannot be even remotely described in words. Love was before we invented languages and love will be even after we all pass.

Writing about this love is an impossible task. Perhaps some people “get it” by the awkward wordings I just made — which means, you already know it and reading this article only worked as a reminder. And some of you may not get it — which means you know it anyway, deep down, but I failed to remind you. We all have this love within. Again, there is nothing that is not love.

So, I am going to write about human nature and our “problems” sometimes and about my personal experiences at other times, to convey the same one message over and over: I love you. You are deeply and completely loved. Love is all there is.

The archive

This blog started in February 2008 and currently has 238 posts in the Archive. Looking back, I see I have “grown” (I am putting quotation marks because it’s only a seeming growth. I am always who I am). It’s tempting to take down some of the articles that I now see rather immature or irrelevant to this focus of love. Or at least edit some of them. But then, the fun of blogging is it shows me real time.

This blog started as a way to show my entrepreneurial trials and errors. Yes, about business and money, two things that many “spiritual” people look down on. And through these 200+ articles, you can see my changes and also the consistency. (Let’s see — this and this are from February 2008, first one listing “self love” as an essential quality of successful entrepreneurs and the second one directly discussing self love. What do you think — have I changed or not? )

I am leaving the previous posts as they are in the hope that some of you may find them useful. It may also be inspiring to track my path. If I can feel the love of this Universe, you sure can. Anyone can. I am really no better than anyone.

I love you. I love my humble life. I love this world. I love the invisible world. I love life.

Do you love yourself? Do you love life? Are you aware of your love?
(Photo credit)

Love Is

I’ve already written an extensive post on Love. In the linked article, I wrote,

“Love is the awareness that we are valuable for our individual uniqueness and yet we are all part of the whole. I love you for who you are. No need to change unless you yourself wish to change. And together we make a union that is more than the sum.

We are like parts of one body. The kidney is valuable for its unique function, and so is the heart. The heart doesn’t put down the kidney because it deals with urine. Our respective uniqueness is our strength — we don’t need kidney to become more like the heart.”

When I was taking a walk this morning, however, I got this new insight that goes further than this. So let me share with you. And I’m going to give it a very right-brain approach — I have to. . .

What love is

Love is knowing you are me.

You may be thinking, “Ah, this is just the variation of the New Age idea of ‘I am all that’ stuff, right?”

Well, maybe yes. And maybe no.

If you understand this not on the intellectual level but on the immediate intuitive level, maybe I have nothing more to add. But if you are one of those many people who “think” you know (like I was), maybe it’s worth keep reading.

Intellectual understanding doesn’t bring love. Love comes from somewhere deeper.

And who is “you” when I say “Love is knowing you are me.”?

“You” include the person I am talking to.
“You” include the “strangers” on the street.
“You” include the people who don’t understand me and say mean things to me.
“You” include the people I have never met and probably never will.
“You” include Saddam Hussein and George Bush.
“You” include the animals, plants, the rocks, the mountains, the Earth, and the Universe.

You are me. There is no room for criticism. There is no way love cannot exist when we understand this.

We cannot understand this by logics

Again, this is not something to understand in the left-brain. In fact, as I am writing this article, the insight I had so clearly is escaping me because I have to use my left-brain to write.

I need to go back to “that place” where I can grasp this.

When I understand this, it comes with a solid feeling. There is no room for questions like, “But how so? Surely I am not that mean person.”

So, my dear readers, I know this post is uncharacteristically short for Real Life Spirituality, but I cannot add any more. You might like reading my previous post on the nature of reality — that is very related to this concept of true, absolute, unconditional love.  (Photo credit)

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