its all about love

The word holiday is a contraction of the words 'holy' and 'day.' The modern day word 'holy' is apparently derived from the old English word 'halig' and Scottish 'hale' which mean whole, complete, happy, healthy, sound, and sacred.

What can possibly be more healthy, whole, complete, happy, sound, and sacred than love? In my opinion, holidays are all about love....loving oneself and everyone else we come in contact with.

Holidays provide the best opportunity to give and to receive love.

* * *

The important question is, what exactly is this thing called love?

If you contemplate, you will begin to realize that love is essentially a state of abiding in which there is no hatred. If you realize that love is primarily the absence of hatred, and, with that understanding, if you further your contemplation, you will begin to realize that love is also essentially a state of abiding in which there is no greed. Once you understand that love is the absence of hatred as well as greed, then, automatically, deep contemplation and mental absorption will arise in you, and if you are lucky, you will then realize that love is ultimately a state of abiding, a state of living, in which there is no delusion: no ego; no sense of separate self, no ‘I.’

So, now you know that love is essentially and ultimately that state of abiding in which there is no hatred, no greed, and no delusion. The next question then arises, “what exactly it means to have no hatred, no greed, and no delusion?”

When you confront such a question and when you observe and experience the emotions of love closely and consistently, you begin to understand that love is not only the absence of hatred, greed, and delusion but also the presence of non-hatred, non-greed and non-delusion. Why? Because, based on your experience, you know that the mere absence of hatred does not necessarily make you feel loving; you have to actively ‘love’ to feel loving. I propose there are four "active parameters" to loving. I call them the "The Elements of Love" because they have the intrinsic nature of generating love.

bliss

SOUL RESEARCH INSTITUTE NEWSLETTER, DEC. 24, 10

ITS ALL ABOUT LOVE

"..that ye love one another...."

"Love your neighbor as yourself"

"..let us not love

in word,

neither in tongue

but in deed

and

in truth."

"Many waters cannot quench love neither can floods drown it"

Loving-kindness is the ability to see and treat oneself and others with friendship, kindness, and harmlessness; compassion is the ability to see and alleviate suffering in oneself and others; gladness is the ability to appreciate goodness (and success) in oneself and others and to derive joy from that; and oneness is the ability to live without feeling separate from others; without having a sense of separate self—an aptitude of equanimity.