Going places with love.
Salman Khan's "Being Human" is a big word these days. I wondered whoever coined that phrase for Salman Khan...surely was a confused guy! "Being Human" - I am human already. How do I be a human! What does "Being Human" mean?
Salman Khan's "Being Human" is a big word these days. I wondered whoever coined that phrase for Salman Khan...surely was a confused guy! "Being Human" - I am human already. How do I be a human! What does "Being Human" mean?
We are human beings, maybe we sometimes don't choose to live like human beings and may occasionally lapse into the lower order i.e. animals, but we are essentially human beings. There is nothing to be achieved by "Being human". Humans are weakness personified... Yet in this humanness is an acceptance of our nature that allows us to tether between the 2 diverse sides... Gory and Glory.
When we rise and transcend to capacities greater than our human selves and aspire to love, evolve, emote and share, we mirror the nature of our creator. He did not want us to be just "humans". For he made us as in his own image which is "Perfection". We find ourselves getting more closer to our perfection, our creator "In whom all things are made perfect" I always advocate love, for love is no human emotion, it is placed there in our hearts by the divine.
Scientifically, speaking the human heart is not capable of emotion. Emotion is situated in various areas of our brain, which control thought and process information, which we receive through stimuli. However, when in love or in an extremely emotion situation, which organ is the one that feels actually??? The heart... it beats...it resounds with the drumming inside of the head...it aches...sometimes you feel like you are walking with a hole inside your heart! Sometimes, the emotions burst out and you feel like your heart can explode! Then why does love feel like it is in the heart! Why does love make us do mad things...crazy things!
Answer is very simple, Love is not a human emotion. In the words of Saint Paul in his letter to the Corinthians (1) : Chap 13:4-8 says
"4 Love is patient, love is kind. It does not envy, it does not boast, it is not proud.
5 It does not dishonor others, it is not self-seeking, it is not easily angered, it keeps no record of wrongs.
6 Love does not delight in evil but rejoices with the truth.
7 It always protects, always trusts, always hopes, always perseveres.
6 Love does not delight in evil but rejoices with the truth.
7 It always protects, always trusts, always hopes, always perseveres.
8 Love never fails. But where there are prophecies, they will cease; where there are tongues, they will be stilled; where there is knowledge, it will pass away.
13 And now these three remain: faith, hope and love. But the greatest of these is love.
13 And now these three remain: faith, hope and love. But the greatest of these is love.
Why did Saint Paul the great doctor of the Church write about Love so profoundly. Simply because every follower of Christ was a mad lover, willing to die and sacrifice himself for Love. For Love is the only emotion, that binds us to our Creator.
Remember the hymn, "Love it was that made us and it was love that saved us. Love was God's plan when he made man. God's divine nature is Love. Born of love we must love him, that's why he made us to love him!....."
We can do another test to find out why love is so divine...and how love makes us more than human.
Test 1 : Suppose you are walking down a road and you see a small boy standing in the middle of the road about to meet with an accident, and there is absolutely no time to save him. What would be your initial reaction? Stand frozen and stare, watch helplessly or jump to save him throwing all caution to the wind? If you were not connected to that child, yes these reactions would be yours. But not if you were his mother and was watching him! She would throw caution to wind and run towards him in whatever human effort she could make...just to try and save him. This is love, hoping when there is no hope!
Test 2 : You know a very close friend of yours who is in need of a kidney, that can save his life. You are not his only friend, perhaps he has say around 5 close friends in his group including you. He has a small family consisting of mother, sister (unmarried sister) and father. He has a girlfriend who loves him a lot. Say out of the 9 people in his life 3 have been tested and found suitable as kidney donors. His girlfriend, you and his sister. Who would offer to give up their organ for him? This test would give proof of love. Knowing the consequences and offering to sacrifice! Would you have the courage as a normal person? Very very difficult choice indeed.
I could give a hundred examples more to provide proof that love calls for extreme action, one that cannot be supported by reason, logic or judgement. Love thrives because it is a Gift from God and has the power to destroy evil. Love is not selfish. Love is generous, forgiving and untainted by the sin of pride. Love is a gift of God. We must ask God to give us this Gift, every day, for it is the only armour against hatred. Gandhiji, Swami Vivekanand were true disciples of Love. They transformed their lives and the lives of others because they believed in Love. That it alone has the capacity and capability to stand up to hatred.
Let me also delve on the other side of not being human. The gory side. Ever wonder why the world is sinking so much in despair? Ever wonder why crime has increased to such an extent? Evil and hate are the deadly potent destroying us humans. Because, only we are capable of filling our cups with the poison of hate or with the wine of love! We can get drunk in both cases and the same human being can be two different beings. Intoxicated by love, I can change things for someone who is in need of love, by my concern, care and empathy. On the other hand, drunk on the deep poison of hatred, I can spew venom on everyone around me and bite and chew their heads like no ones business. Hatred is evil, it seeks to destroy and tear down everything it touches. It burns, it consumes and nothing can put out the fire. It grows everyday like coals simmering underneath the surface, waiting to explode and decimate everything in its path! Murder, rape, terrorism, looting, burning, vandalism...hatred seeks to breed more hatred and spreads like a virus. Nothing good ever comes out of hatred. The world and the middle east are a living testimony of hatred at these times. Hatred does not start out like this....it is a slow disease of selfishness, ambition, greed, need for power and dominion...it looks like any ordinary person would term it...arrogance. But, slowly, the externals start fading and the person gets more desperate..wanting to control and plot...and I just don't want to think or talk about it because I begin to feel uncomfortable with this emotion..
Coming back..We cannot even think of changing this world by just "being humans", we need to be more than that. Ever wondered why your heart pounds so hard before a difficult task of sacrifice, or a decision that requires courage? Ever wondered why you feel so happy and fulfilled when you help someone or make someone's day? Ever wonder why the world seems so bright when someone smiles at you, compliments you? Not because you are human, but because the DIVINE has merged with the HUMAN.
Remember the hymn, "Love it was that made us and it was love that saved us. Love was God's plan when he made man. God's divine nature is Love. Born of love we must love him, that's why he made us to love him!....."
We can do another test to find out why love is so divine...and how love makes us more than human.
Test 1 : Suppose you are walking down a road and you see a small boy standing in the middle of the road about to meet with an accident, and there is absolutely no time to save him. What would be your initial reaction? Stand frozen and stare, watch helplessly or jump to save him throwing all caution to the wind? If you were not connected to that child, yes these reactions would be yours. But not if you were his mother and was watching him! She would throw caution to wind and run towards him in whatever human effort she could make...just to try and save him. This is love, hoping when there is no hope!
Test 2 : You know a very close friend of yours who is in need of a kidney, that can save his life. You are not his only friend, perhaps he has say around 5 close friends in his group including you. He has a small family consisting of mother, sister (unmarried sister) and father. He has a girlfriend who loves him a lot. Say out of the 9 people in his life 3 have been tested and found suitable as kidney donors. His girlfriend, you and his sister. Who would offer to give up their organ for him? This test would give proof of love. Knowing the consequences and offering to sacrifice! Would you have the courage as a normal person? Very very difficult choice indeed.
I could give a hundred examples more to provide proof that love calls for extreme action, one that cannot be supported by reason, logic or judgement. Love thrives because it is a Gift from God and has the power to destroy evil. Love is not selfish. Love is generous, forgiving and untainted by the sin of pride. Love is a gift of God. We must ask God to give us this Gift, every day, for it is the only armour against hatred. Gandhiji, Swami Vivekanand were true disciples of Love. They transformed their lives and the lives of others because they believed in Love. That it alone has the capacity and capability to stand up to hatred.
Let me also delve on the other side of not being human. The gory side. Ever wonder why the world is sinking so much in despair? Ever wonder why crime has increased to such an extent? Evil and hate are the deadly potent destroying us humans. Because, only we are capable of filling our cups with the poison of hate or with the wine of love! We can get drunk in both cases and the same human being can be two different beings. Intoxicated by love, I can change things for someone who is in need of love, by my concern, care and empathy. On the other hand, drunk on the deep poison of hatred, I can spew venom on everyone around me and bite and chew their heads like no ones business. Hatred is evil, it seeks to destroy and tear down everything it touches. It burns, it consumes and nothing can put out the fire. It grows everyday like coals simmering underneath the surface, waiting to explode and decimate everything in its path! Murder, rape, terrorism, looting, burning, vandalism...hatred seeks to breed more hatred and spreads like a virus. Nothing good ever comes out of hatred. The world and the middle east are a living testimony of hatred at these times. Hatred does not start out like this....it is a slow disease of selfishness, ambition, greed, need for power and dominion...it looks like any ordinary person would term it...arrogance. But, slowly, the externals start fading and the person gets more desperate..wanting to control and plot...and I just don't want to think or talk about it because I begin to feel uncomfortable with this emotion..
Coming back..We cannot even think of changing this world by just "being humans", we need to be more than that. Ever wondered why your heart pounds so hard before a difficult task of sacrifice, or a decision that requires courage? Ever wondered why you feel so happy and fulfilled when you help someone or make someone's day? Ever wonder why the world seems so bright when someone smiles at you, compliments you? Not because you are human, but because the DIVINE has merged with the HUMAN.
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