What Is Love?

Right now, many people are speaking of love. Some say all we need is love. But what is love anyway?

A smart friend of mine recently said, "The root of effective communication is a consensus of the meaning of the word symbols we use during that communication." Indeed, that's one of the fundamental principles of logic and effective communication. The problem is that we haven't been taught how to use logic or critical thinking skills or any of that, or even how to listen to our own inner truth, our own natural, internal logic.

They say "All we need is love." But is it really true? Maybe it is true in a certain very real sense, but then again, all abstract concepts are both true and false at the same time because they are abstract. What is love? How do you define love? What is love? We don't know. We don't even know what the heck we're talking about. So in order to talk about love, we would first need some sort of agreed-upon definition of love. But no such definition exists because "love" is too abstract to define. Love is like God. God is love! So what the heck are we talking about? We don't know.

Instead of just talking about abstract concepts, we should be trying to develop a concrete, logical strategy for changing the world, a strategy we can all start to implement right now, even if just in small steps. Changing the world may sound like an overly ambitious goal, but really it's not if we just use logic. What do people really need? Food, clothing, shelter and freedom. Those are the things we need. Love is an abstract concept left for each individual to define and apply to his own life.

Many people talk about enlightening the world's leaders. But why do we have to wait for them to be enlightened or try to enlighten them? (Furthermore, what is "enlightenment"?) Is our own awareness not enough? Do we not know what is wrong with the world? Do we not know what it would take to fix it? I think we all know, deep down in our hearts, what we must do, but we are having a hard time letting go of the world we know and taking that leap of faith into the unknown.

Many people talk of peace and love, but when it comes right down to it, they have no interest in changing the status quo. I see it all the time, every day, especially on the Internet but even in the world in general, if such a conversation even comes up at all. Some folks such as myself are feeling frustrated because we keep bumping up against the same wall over and over again.

For example, yesterday I went on Facebook and talked about the time that I burned a $100 bill in an act of defiance. (See the picture. Ha ha ha. Needless to say, some considered it a horrific act. Of course, some protested that I could have given it to charity--or to them--and yadda yadda yadda.) One of my FB friends responded by saying, "Making more war won't help. We don't need more war." I don't know if he mentioned love specifically but it was basically an "all we need is love" type of message.

I explained to him that I wasn't trying to make any war at all! What I did was a completely non-violent act meant to raise consciousness and liberate my own being. What I'm suggesting is that we all non-violently withdraw our support from the system. If we stop supporting the system, then the system stops functioning, because it needs our participation to survive. Simple as that. It really is just as simple as that, if you apply logic and reasoning!

The question is, are we willing to take the risk? Are we willing to make the sacrifice and let go, in order to embrace something that is so much more? Or are we going to continue holding on to our own ego, selfishness and apathy, and thus continue our participation in the destruction of the world?

They say that there are only two basic emotions, love and fear. If that's true, then many people who speak of love are actually living in fear, in my opinion. They are afraid to raise any challenge to the system that is destroying their very souls, the souls of their brothers and sisters, and the soul of the very Earth herself.

The same person who told me not to "make war" also made some statements that I thought were quite surprising. He said, "If you destroy the monetary system, then the people in power will perceive it as you making war on them." Indeed! So he is not so stupid after all.

Then he said, "You are destroying something that doesn't belong to you." Indeed! Ninety percent of the wealth is in the hands of only 10 percent, and all wealth continually circulates back to them. Therefore, 90 of my 100 dollars actually "belonged" to the federal reserve bank. But wait, I thought it was supposed to be MY money! But the truth is that nothing really belongs to us, not even our own lives. We are all slaves. We are all owned. We have all been bought and sold. And we all know it. But we are afraid to raise a challenge, afraid that we will get hurt, afraid they will attack us, and afraid of loosing everything we know.

So, what voice is really speaking? Is it the voice of love...or is it actually the voice of fear?

Furthermore, one thing I've noticed is that beneath all this talk of peace and love, there lurks a dark pessimism. The same man who warned me not to "make war" also said, "The world will always be controlled by evil forces." Those were his exact words. Really? Correct me if I'm wrong, but to me that doesn't sound like a very positive view of things. But the theme that "you can't change things" is often repeated over and over again by those who profess to walk in love. "Better to observe in silence" they say. In other words, better to sit down and shut up?

Those who want to work toward real change are often accused of trying to create a "utopia." I think that just goes to show how low our standards are. We're not talking about perfection. We can never achieve perfection. We're just talking about creating a world that is somewhat sane and rational, somewhat human, a world that is not completely distraught by war, poverty and oppression. I don't think that's too much to ask for, and I think it's still a far cry from a "utopia."

When I burned that $100 bill it was, in my mind, an act of pure love. It was pure and unadulterated love, unbridled and unhindered love. It was wild and crazy love, love straight from my heart. It came from a deep, burning desire to set myself and all of humanity free from the terrible matrix that now binds us in this holding pattern. Doing it filled my heart with joy and happiness, and inspired me to dance in celebration. But some cannot see it as loving act. They can only see it as a negative act. Are they really looking at this through the eyes of love, or through the eyes of fear? Perhaps a bit of both, as we are all feeling a bit of both at this time. I certainly don't claim to be completely free of fear. I don't think any of us are at this juncture, and maybe we shouldn't be.

Besides, what is love anyway?