Moments of Clarity

I was watching a movie recently and was stopped in my tracks by this line, “Love isn’t a feeling, it’s an ability”.I considered this, because I, like many other people perhaps, have been practically hypnotised from childhood through various streams of advertising and media, to believe that love is an emotion, a feeling, something that just washes over us, maybe even taking us by surprise and then of course, it can also be confused with lust.

Such a perception of love renders it passive by nature, as if we ourselves have no say in the matter, no active component of our own. Is it possible that we are simply a product of biology, seemingly at the mercy of chemistry? But then, how many of us are really clued up about what lies behind the many feelings and emotions that we experience?

Perhaps feelings and emotions are innately passive in nature, shadows of an unexplored state of consciousness? If love is an ability, it means that we have to be conscious of our actions, our choices and of the very ground of our being. It means that we have to be present to what is before us, even if we don’t understand it fully and to be willing and committed to taking responsibility for our lives. It means that we have to have a good idea of what our values are and of what our sense of purpose is about.

Love - if it is active, if it is an ability – is a calling for us to be wide awake and to be authentic in the world. Simply put then, to love, to experience love is the same as opening ourselves up to our greatest and highest potential, as anything else would be imaginary. Love is what is awakening us, so why do we look for it in the face of another, when we have yet to experience it in ourselves?