Radical Love
I am a lucky man. I have a wonderful wife, seven wonderful children, and fourteen gorgeous grandchildren (at last count). I have family.
My work brings me in touch with many who don’t have a family. Argument, estrangement, quirks of nature, destiny or accident and even darker reasons, may have eroded family or even its possibility.
Therefore in my seeming contentment as a family person I also feel acute empathy with those who have been denied. And yet, the human being has been wonderfully endowed with the capacity of love and closeness beyond family. That attribute gives everyone the possibility of closing the gap between people and peoples. The capacity to love extends powerfully outside of the borders of family.
True – you don’t love even the closest friend as you love one’s child or one’s parent. But no love is comparable. The energy of love between parent and child cannot be compared to the love of friendship no matter how profound, or the love between siblings, or the love of nature or the love of animals etc. Not because one is more powerful than the other. But rather because you can’t compare apples to oranges. Each love-flow possesses its unique emotional signature.
Childlessness or parentlessness denies the experience of those respective loves. But the capacity to draw from the unique reservoir of the soul and share of oneself with others is not diminished. The peak experience this can produce is sufficient to propel a human being to amazing heights of accomplishment. The embrace of all humanity can move hearts, minds and societies.
You may not be my blood brother or sister. But I can love you with all my heart. We may not have ever met. And yet the soul within me can yearn for your insight and wisdom.
This is known in Kabbalistic teachings as Ahavat Olam – love of creation and all of its elements and beings. To achieve this level of oneness with each other is not difficult, though the headlines and geopolitical machinations point otherwise. Admittedly it requires introspection, contemplation and the courage to express the deep-felt quest for connection and conjoining.
Therefore I make a request of you. Begin the multiplier effect to change the world. This week, approach a perfect stranger and say to him or her: “I know you are a gifted and unique individual. And I love you for what you intrinsically are - deep down within”.
To me that is what a true revolutionary is all about, what radical love really means.