IF NOT LOVE THEN WHAT?

The speaker discusses the concept of love and the importance of responding with love in our actions and words. They acknowledge that love can be difficult to define, but it encompasses qualities like boundlessness, timelessness, and unconditional. They emphasize that if we are not responding with love, we are responding from lovelessness, which includes negative emotions like fear, anger, and hatred. The speaker suggests that we have a choice in every moment to respond with love and encourages cultivating this habit. They invite the listener to share their thoughts and experiences on the topic. 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Or our response could be, excuse me, in the form of words or actions. And so the question is, how do we respond? And that's what I'm inviting us to consider. Because if we don't respond with love, what are we responding with? And what do we want to respond with, if not with love? So, what is love? You ask ten people, they'll give you ten different answers at least. But let's be real here, to the extent that we can talk about what's real in this three-dimensional space-time world, which, by the way, many people are now referring to as the Matrix. And, hmm, I love that movie. And I remember that as I was watching it, I quickly realized how reflective it was of some, you know, really key core themes and principles in Buddhism. Like, you know, the fact that we never see things as they truly are. And that the forces and folly of attachment and aversion are pretty grim and pretty powerful. But I'm digressing. Let's get back to that elephant, to love. What comes to your mind when you think or you hear that word? Is it the image of a favorite animal friend? Perhaps a song that you've loved most of your life? Maybe the words of someone who's inspired you. Or a movie you've seen. Or holding a child for the very first time. That sometimes comes up for me. And a little bit more often, I guess, is the image and the feeling I have of my mum. And what's it for you? You know, for a long time now, when I think or speak that word, love, my mind kind of goes blank, in a nice way. Like, a space opens up, an endless, edgeless, empty space opens up. And, you know, it's not... It feels whole, it feels complete. And in that sense, I mean, to use the word empty, it seems like contradicting, but it does feel whole and complete and full, full of potential and possibility. And, you know, right there, what was I doing? I was trying to do the impossible, which is to put words to something that cannot be described or defined in any way, much as we try to. It's like the word God, or life, or truth, or ultimate reality, which are all words, terms that I use interchangeably. So there you go. You know, when I think of love, that's what comes up. And yes, I do have some words that I use as descriptors for that experience. Words like boundless, timeless, beginningless, endless, deathless, unborn, ever-present, all-knowing, unconditional, unconditioned. And all-encompassing. So, let's get back to that original question, right? If not love, then what? If I'm not responding with love, what am I responding with, or from, or in? And if you say peace, or kindness, or justice, or fairness, or generosity, or any of those, you know, good, noble, feeling states of consciousness, I'd say, well, as far as I'm concerned, they're all frequencies within the infinite bandwidth of love. But I think the uncomfortable and inconvenient thing for us to acknowledge is that when we're not responding with, and from, and in love, we are responding from lovelessness. And I know, when I say it like that, it can feel so severe, so brutal, and even evil. And by the way, have you noticed that the word evil spelt backwards is live, or live? So yes, the way I see it, love, just like love, evil, or lovelessness, also encompasses many of the lower frequencies, like fear, anger, hatred, jealousy, spitefulness, arrogance, willfulness, and even seemingly harmless states like boredom, or apathy, or frustration, or impatience, anxiety, and depression, and this one too, ignorance, which is the subject of another talk that I'd like to do down the track. What I'm trying to say is that it's really one or the other, isn't it? Love or lovelessness. And when you look at it that way, I think you'll find it hard, though we do try, the ego does try, to stretch or massage any of those states of lovelessness into states of love. The ego is really, really quite masterful at doing that, rationalizing, and reasoning, and all the mental gymnastics to make what is essentially loveless appear as if it were love, or loving. Look, I appreciate that it's hard for us to acknowledge this, let alone accept it, because, you know, the hard and sad truth is that we find ourselves in states of lovelessness far too often. And of course we don't want to think of ourselves as loveless when we know that we're so loving in so many ways. But what if we didn't take this personally? What if instead we look at this as just mental states that we experience, that none of these states define us, that they are states of consciousness, that our minds have become habituated into, conditioned into, habits that we've acquired and practiced for a long time? What if that's how we looked at it? I think it would be perhaps not quite so confronting to acknowledge that in any given situation our response is only ever one of love, or lovelessness. Because when we acknowledge it, then we can be more aware that we have a choice in any given moment, and that we can choose love rather than lovelessness. Now, I'm not saying that this is going to be easy and that you're going to pull it off every single time. No, I'm not saying that, because we're so practiced in lovelessness. We've been doing it for so long and so well. But it's about cultivating a new habit, which is, firstly, becoming more aware that we have a choice, and secondly, choosing love. Choosing stillness, as an example, of a frequency in the bandwidth of love, or choosing to redirect our attention, or choosing to remain silent rather than explode with hurtful words, or choosing an act of kindness, or choosing to ask a question and ask it so sincerely, really wanting to know, to understand. So, what do you think? Do you agree that at any given moment we're responding either out of love or out of lovelessness? And do you agree that we do have a choice every time, even if it feels difficult in the moment? I'd love for you to share your experience, your thoughts. And in the meantime, much love, and may your heart beat to the rhythms of peace. Everybody, I know it's so easy to forget I do it myself so often, but please, if you did like this video, do hit the like button, do subscribe, do share, and most of all, please leave a comment. I'd love to hear your thoughts. Thank you so much.