LOVE

LOVE

Brent Anderson

Love, that state of consciousness or unconsciousness that occurs in romantic or altruistic humans, is hard to define with words. We always resort to describing it in terms of how it causes a man and woman to react to each other, or to mankind as a whole. Its most pronounced symptom is a desire to give of self to the loved person or persons. This phenomenon is found in many other animal species in lesser degrees but it reaches its peak expression in humans. Where it is manifested as a willingness to sacrifice one’s self interest for another or others.

Love is a normal behavior in the animal kingdom. It exists in herd behavior where we witness adults defending their young with their lives. This behavior is dictated by a genetic imperative, which is common in many herd or tribal animals. If one in the herd is killed in the defense of the group the rest of the herd carries on its genes and so it is not ultimately lost on a genetic level. The only thing missing for such animals is conscious thought and understanding the ramifications of dying so that others might live. However, there is a limit to non-human love that again is genetic in origin that dictates that when there is insufficient food the young will be sacrificed in the interest of prolonging the lives of mature herd members. This makes genetic sense since they are best able to survive difficult conditions, and then reproduce when good times return. There are circumstances where this behavior has been practiced by humans but in our "civilized" times it is rare.

The difference between love and its opposite, lust, becomes quiet clear when we view the two within the context of the preceding paragraphs. Lust can be typified as a natural behavior within the animal world in which the individual seeks to take what is desired without thought for others (survival of the fittest). Lust is a part of life for all of Earth’s creatures, including man and woman. But, mankind can rise above lust. Of course having the ability does not mean that it is exercised, and at times it must seem that to many the only operative force in humanity is lust. If we could find a hypothetical impartial observer to evaluate mankind from the evidence given by our modern entertainment cartel he, she or it would have to conclude that love is a rather rare commodity. We all know that those presentations are filled with hedonistic sexual infidelity, lying, cheating and in general lusting. Based on that witness our hypothetical observer would surely judge us as an animalistic lot little given to rational thought.

Fortunately, the media does not reflect the true median behavior of the human family. If our vision were wide enough, every day we would see the effect of love in the lives of billions of humans. Every moment of time marks new romantic love being born in the hearts of men and women world-wide, and even more importantly, the birth and growth of love for all mankind (as well as all life) in the hearts of many. The state of ever increasing love should be the goal of men and women. One of the truths of life is that we are either growing or diminishing in abilities and the same is true of love. Increasing love between partners brings about good marriages. The ultimate peak of love in such relationships is always just over the infinite horizon. As in most of the good pursuits of life, the growth of love brings true joy. The same applies to love of mankind in general.

The course of Love is a long path that stretches beyond the view of those who first stumble upon its beginnings. Man and woman at first are not aware of the vast challenge of learning to love because they are so caught up in the indescribable rapture that is the combining of the first small love with an extremely large amount of lust. With years of commitment the input of lust decreases while love waxes and eventually overcomes all but vestiges of the original lust that attracts man and woman. With this progression, we find that the same love we feel for our romantic partners can expand to include all of mankind. Eventually, we may even begin to understand how great the love of our Father (God) is for each of us.

I personally, in a near death experience, have been immersed in the light (fire) of our Fathers love and yet returned to this place of learning. There are no words within meager human language that will allow me to fully or even partially describe that love which is felt with every sense of a body that has many more senses than this limited physical shell. Having that experience, though, brings perspective to the fumbling efforts of humanity to learn to love as our Father does. It has instilled in me the desire to duplicate that infinite love within myself. I practice every day as I meet and greet my brothers and sisters, by saying to myself (lest they think me crazy) I love you. Though, I still find myself lacking I will continue to strive until that time when I am privileged to rejoin our Father and again live in his love and company. Each of us has the ability so perhaps you will join me in this quest to have and enjoy the only real joy that man or woman can ever find in this short life?