It is always necessary to seek to understand an idea first-hand, not just through secondary sources. This is especially true of something like love which is ever-present, dynamic, alive, and of-the-now. In this process, though, one can be informed by a range of other sources that refract, confirm and/or amplify in various ways. If these are limiting us, well, that's no good, but if they are propelling our own grasp of things in a fuller sense, that is indeed helpful. There are many ways this can happen for us.I prefer to understand the concept by itself. If we come to the same understanding, then great, I suppose!
And I would say that Love knows no distance, nor does it require a certain amount of knowledge of the one who is loved. It is an orientation towards all things. Through Love, one does not necessarily have to solve all the world's problems. If you see Love as universal force, it's easy to imagine that every being who is oriented towards Love is a part of it. It becomes easier to understand Love as a living organism. In that sense, each part of the whole has its own role to play, whilst sustaining and being sustained by the whole.
I like the saying "Love your neighbor as you love yourself, but if you cannot love your neighbor as you love yourself, at least do not do them any harm." To me this gets to an interesting point....we may not know a person well, and there may be certain things we do not particularly appreciate about them or their choices, but we can still align ourselves with love, even with these limitations. Love as a universal force, of course, has no such limitations, but so often we do. It's good to work past our own limitations and still land on the side of love, respecting another if only because we recognize primacy and value of the universal force.I've always wondered whether it was necessary to love everything about a person in order to truly love them.
"The difficult part will be negotiating the inconsistencies between what I am and what I want to be."
Please share more on this if I may ask.
Question: Is love a choice?
Love is always there; you just have the choice of whether you want to accept it, whether you want to give love to others as well
lol I think initially it ought to be, but at some point it becomes so deeply rooted in the thought process that it's difficult/impossible to make it a choice. It still should be though, for it to be healthy. And that's great because maintaining freedom is important and making it a choice allows constant assessment and evaluation of the circumstance, which ultimately allows growth of love in a healthy way.
Granted, constant criticism within that choosing can be detrimental. It's important not to place criticism in the process of choosing love. Simply let it be a natural check and balance. If the situation forces criticism, then that love may need reprioritization.
I agree that in most cases (and probably particularly for F types) there is not a lot of self deliberation going on when it comes to love... nor a plethora of other feelings, but gut reactions/feelings can often be (IMO) the result of instantanous deliberation, which is not immediately fully understood.
I actually wouldn't define hate, as the lack of love, per se. I would see it as, one doesn't have to accept love from everyone necessarily, I certainly don't. I call it indifference, not hate. Going off on a Tangent here:Another question: @Serenity or any other who wishes to answer
How would you explain this among people?
For example:
There is a couple, a girl and a boy, plus there are two other people, another boy and another girl. The "others." just as the couple, are full of love to give. What if the others choose to give love to the couple, one on each end? If one or more of the members of the couple choose to accept their love, would you say the couple was never really in love? Or can they love more than once?
If you don't except that love that is "always there" would it mean you choose the opposite, in this case, "hate?" or what will you be giving out to the world if you don't give love?