The path to Tranquility (summer)
75. Love is the action that creates happiness
The fundamental pursuit of life is nothing more than happiness. But
sometimes, happiness is like a horizon. We see it and move towards it, but
cannot get close. This symbolizes that the happiness we see is the
atmosphere created by some people in a certain time and space through love.
We must love each other to create our own happiness.
In our language and literature, the word "love" often appears, but its meaning is vague. In some dialects, love can mean wanting, for example, asking: "Do you love rice or porridge?" While hate means wanting but cannot get, for example, saying: "I hate eating ice cream." This linguistic phenomenon reveals the common origin of love and hate. Traditionally, the occurrence of love and hate is caused by desire and ego, not the real needs of life. Therefore, this "love" does not bring happiness.
The meaning of the word love is indeed very vague. When it is used as a noun, it may express a feeling, for example, saying: "In this spring, I gained love." Sometimes, it is used to express an emotion, or an attitude, such as saying: "I love chocolate." These feelings, emotions, or attitudes are all vague. And when we use love as a verb, its meaning becomes even more vague. We say to others "I love you", but what does "love" really mean here?
In order to express the true love in modern civilization, we need to give an accurate meaning to the word "love" and not abuse it. Not only that, we also need to practice the meaning of love with actions, turning "love" into a dedicated verb, which only represents an action of connection based on care and respect. The feeling generated from this kind of action, we can express with the word "happiness". Happiness is a feeling that occurs during or even after the action of loving each other.
Love is a willingly giving and receiving, the energy of life circulates and promotes each other through the consciousness of two people. When the consciousness of each other grows together, happiness will stay in our hearts. Happiness is nature's most exquisite gift, but it needs to be received with love. When we become sensitive and energetic, paying special attention to the needs of others, we are ready and just need to act with courage.
However, love must have a depth. Saying "I love you" every day is just a very superficial behavior. Presenting a bouquet of flowers and saying the vow of love loudly may be a bit touching, but whether it is really love depends on future actions. There can be a big difference in depth between words and actions, desires and love. We need to take actions that are truly beneficial for life, invest time and energy for each other's physical and mental health. This is true mutual love that will make each other feel joy and happiness. The goal of love is to build a strong "we" rather than a stubborn ego, and it is therefore an action of life sharing.
Walking in the rain with the people we like, we will feel an atmosphere of advancing and retreating together. When we walk hand in hand in the garden on a clear night, discussing each other's needs affectionately, that atmosphere of caring for each other will also appear. This is the atmosphere of happiness, it is naturally formed in mutual love. We can remember this atmosphere because its existence symbolizes the happiness that once came to our hearts and the actions we once took for love.
Love is a verb, which means that love is the expression of vitality and the advanced creative action of life. On earth, only human beings have this kind of creativity. Love not only creates spiritual things, although its works have a profound spiritual quality, but it is actually a wholehearted mutual aid action out of protecting life. The relationship of mutual love, is developed by the cooperation of our compassion and empathy, blending family affection and friendship, and is the closest connection between people.
Life is our carrier, and we are the consciousness that resides in life. In order to protect our carrier, we need to connect together, so love is an action driven by consciousness. The purpose of this action is to protect life, so love will in turn enhance our consciousness and promote our growth. The action of love will eventually make life more perfect, and make us evolve into a freer existence.
To practice love, we need to lead our body and mind with consciousness and reason, value each other's common needs, accept each other's differences, and take positive actions to maintain each other's health and delay aging. For example, diet, exercise, emotions and consciousness, we arrange all aspects according to the characteristics of both parties and take care of each other's feelings. When we take the initiative to love others instead of expecting to be loved, we can step out of our dreams and establish a true mutual loving relationship.
By loving each other, we create greater freedom, and freedom is the source of happiness. Therefore, if we pursue happiness, we can turn it into cultivating the ability to love, proactively giving, and establishing a truly loving relationship. In this way, happiness will naturally grow within us.
74. Insight into the truth of the things
76. Love is the action that creates happiness
