More thoughts on Love
Friday, January 11, 2008 at 5:46 PM Thought I would share a couple more thoughts from others on the topic of love. These two excerpts "sandwiched" the writing of my post on love and fear.
Maturity doesn't come with age or intellectual wisdom, only with love.
--Ruth Casey
We may have thought being mature meant being "grown-up." This meant acting rationally, showing good judgment, no longer exhibiting childish behavior. It's doubtful that we ever considered the expression of love as an act of maturity. However, we are learning that the key to sustained growth is the ability to love one another and ourselves.
It seems so much easier to focus on others' faults than on their assets. In childhood we learned to compete with our classmates, and this taught us to be critical of one another. No teacher tested us on how we expressed love; rather, we worked on spelling and multiplication tables, and we were pitted against other students for the gold stars.
Now we are discovering how much more comfortable life is when we all get gold stars. We are handling every situation more sanely now that we have realized the gift of serenity that accompanies our expression of love.
My growth, my maturity in this program, can best be measured by my attitude today. Am I loving, or am I still competing with the others? You are reading from the book:
This next quote is from actor, Val Kilmer. It appears in the January issue of O...The Oprah Magazine.
What if we made it mandatory to teach love in schools? It would be a subject you study, like algebra. You'd have to pass a test to get married or have a baby, after learning how to love. Our children would learn to be nurturing. It would be safe for boys to be loving. I heard a quote once: "Men have come and for a time made evil victorious, but they never win...Love always prevails." If we taught love, it would do more than prevail. It would manifest through our actions. Total love would liberate us all.And here are those questions again: What if we taught love in schools, instead of fear and competition? What if we chose to act daily from love instead fear? What if we started right now with a hug instead of judgment? How would the world change?
In closing, here is one of my favorite videos that I have shared before. Think about it, please.
Community, Love, Social Justice
Reader Comments (7)
This EXACT UTube came across my mind as we were driving home from Spokane listening to Ipod in the car....I remembered it as the first UTube shots that I saw on your blog and I was so thrilled with the happiness of it - I just decided I wanted to be part of the whole blogger thing........thanks for sharing it again. I'm crazy about the thought provoking messages you give us all!
SS--i am so delighted to have you as a part of my (blogging) community, et al! i LOVE this video...one of these days i am going to make a sign and go stand on the corner with "free hugs!" care to join me? :-)
I love the Val Kilmer quote and am reminded of another book by Jerry Jampolsky entitled TEACH ONLY LOVE. Wouldn't THAT be something!
And now ... I'm off to read Haikus at Lucy Creates! Sorry to be so late in getting here (and there). Life's too busy these days ... but wonderful all the same!
Hugs and blessings,
I might go for that FREE HUGS sign with you....
SS--this also reminds me of a great sign that jen lemen made that says, "You are Here. Can you feel it?" check out here post here:
http://www.jenlemen.com/blog/?p=297
This is a multi-hanky video.
Gets me every time. I think there's something significant that in the first hug he has to kneel down to embrace the woman.
tess-that first hug gets me every time!!