on loving
as i was just discussing with n, i believe sincerely that we mustn't love 'people', we must love the goodness in them. if we love goodness, we will love all people - because everyone has a shade of goodness to them, and everyone has potential for considerable good. indeed, there are no bad people, though some of us may need to work harder on getting our goodness to reflect outward. if we love this goodness, not only do we keep our spirit aligned with good, but we can better follow our dharma, in that we are better equipped to embrace the good and shun the evil (nb: my opinion of good and evil is in line with the post of a few days ago).
3 comments:
Amen! I love how you've put this here Neha -- loving the goodness of people rather than the people themselves. We love that goodness because we recognize its real spiritual essence, but somehow the way you've put it makes it feel more tangible than perhaps I've thought it was in the past. What you wrote also really reminds me of this quote by 'Abdu'l-Baha:
"Be in perfect unity. Never become angry with one another . . . . Love the creatures for the sake of God and not for themselves. You will never become angry or impatient if you love them for the sake of God. Humanity is not perfect. There are imperfections in every human being, and you will always become unhappy if you look toward the people themselves. But if you look toward God, you will love them and be kind to them, for the world of God is the world of perfection and complete mercy."
hi hi. i feel like i've seen that quote before, and so perhaps i was influenced? :)
i'm starting to think about this actively wrt all the people i know, interact with. if it can be made to work, it will be a successful abstraction :).
Nobody is perfect and we all are made of a bit of this and a bit of that, some good, some not so good and some definitely bad. Can we separate and ignore the not so good and appreciate the good. Forgive the bad because perhaps he knows not that it is bad. Love the goodness but why not love the people for their goodness.
I guess love needs to be defined here.
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