Love is the reason we are alive:
“Love would never leave us alone,
A-yin the darkness there must come out to light….”
So goes the lyrics to Bob Marley’s song. We are love; being love and to be loved is our true nature. In Maslow’s hierarchy of needs, love is the third level after basic psychological and safety needs are met, followed by self-esteem, self actualization and later self-transcendence. I do not agree with this simplistic ranking of needs and in today’s world where safety needs are being diminished daily, even in the First World, are we to think that our need for love, to love and be loved is not as important, now that our very human survival needs are lacking?
Love is the basic need of all beings. In experiments performed with newborn babies where one group were given a lot of love in the form of human touch and the other were given minimal physical touch, the first group grew healthier and stronger compared to the control group. This to me, means that love and being loved is the highest motivation for living and the power to love ourselves and one another is paramount in these uncertain times. We are quickly losing our basic safety needs; our cities are crime ridden, families are losing their homes due to foreclosures, and with the tremendous amount of people losing their jobs, the burden of a safety net against adverse impacts of illness and accidents is a daily threat to our well-being. Maslow’s third level of needs, that of belonging and acceptance from a social network or supportive family ties is an important aspect in this period of financial disaster that is the reality for many families. In circumstances such as these, the hierarchy of needs according to Maslow are blurred. We need the support of a network of caring people to help us to meet our basic needs of food, shelter, health-care and emotional support.
One can argue that we as a civilization have come full circle where all our needs have been met according to Maslow’s hierarchy and are now privileged to have the choice to focus on any one level if we wish; that our ancestors who were so focused on their survival needs were not ready to maximize their highest potential. Isn’t it interesting that we are in the midst of chaos with global warming, environmental destruction and meltdown of our world economy as we reached the zenith of our human potential according to Maslow? I believe that human needs are not hierarchical, but are universal, and change according to social and economic circumstances. When any one of these needs on the main five levels are missing, we revert to poverty of body, mind and spirit.
What Maslow puts at the top of his hierarchy, self actualization and self transcendence are the fruition of our innate wisdom and its manifestation as our highest life purpose, which in the western world is synonymous with intellectual development. I believe that the capacity to access our highest potential is always available to us, but its priority is determined by the the mores of the society to which we belong. In the Eastern tradition, it has always been customary for families to send a male child to be trained in the oral tradition of a monastic education, to become a keeper of the wisdom teachings and a spiritual guide for the laity. In our western society where intellectual development is now valued, we focus on educating all our children. Our highest potential though, is our capacity to love and is the one constant that is essential to all areas of physical, emotional, mental and spiritual development.
As children we were naturally focused on love, our world was full of enchantment and the miraculous. We learned how to be a separate individual in a competitive society and assumed all the limitations of loss, scarcity and fear associated with such an outlook. The spiritual healing journey is about accepting love back into our lives, to be consciously aware of it in ourselves and in others. This is the highest purpose of our lives. We take for granted the one thing that gives meaning to all of life. In the words of Bob Marley:
You ain’t gonna miss your water until your well runs dry;
No matter how you treat him, the man will never be satisfied.
Say something! Could you be – could you be – could you be loved?
{ 10 comments… read them below or add one }
This was a great post – thank you! Love is all there is, and if our entire human race could live with this understanding, everyone would have everything they need. Because there is enough for all of us.
Love is all there is…it is what we are, where we come from and where we are going. Thank you for this look at Love. It is a great reminder, especially during this season of Light and Love which so many have lost touch with.
Peace and Love, Linda
My Master says “love is not an emotion , it is very your existence”
Nice post. As we say beauty lies in the eyes of beholder , in the same way love exists everywhere in this creation.
Hi Miruh,
We exist because God loves us and within that context we are never without. The problem occurs when we defy that the reason of our existence is to love and be loved. It’s a simple equation that many can never calculate. If all we did was one act of love each day, we would increase our potential to love and be loved one thousandfold.
Thank you for sharing your love and knowledge with us, we must keep it going and never let a day go by without exercising our will to love.
What a wonderful article and site!!!
There cannot be enough talk in this worlsd (I think) about love! Indeed so many of us have lost our way. What was once the most important in our life, that brought us the most “life” through the years gets pushed to the side, or questioned, or judged or just plain taken for granted.
We need love, we are love and love is all there is!
Thank you for spreading the light and love of what our inner being is all about!
Hello Nicole,
Welcome to this humble site!
Indeed, when we all evolve to recognize that we are love and the abundance of the earth is love made manifest, ours to share and appreciate, that will be a day for rejoicing.
Thank you for your kind comment and may you know love and peace in this season of remembering the Light.
Hello Linda,
A pleasure to have you drop by!
I love the holiday season because everyone carries the energy of love and light with them, in the spirit of giving. Even if for some it is about material giving, we are reminded of the purpose of life; to love and cherish each other.
May your heart be filled with peace, love and joy in this holiday season!
Hello Vinod,
Well said, “…love exists everywhere in this creation.”
Thank you for sharing your wisdom and your kind comment.
Soft peace to you my friend!
Hello Alexys,
These are beautiful words of wisdom:
“We exist because God loves us and within that context we are never without.”
If we can remember and live by this, then we have no worries mate!
You’ve nailed it:
“…It’s a simple equation that many can never calculate. If all we did was one act of love each day, we would increase our potential to love and be loved one thousandfold.”
Yes, we must keep sharing our love for it is a gift that we have been blessed with to be able to share with others and in turn, we are filled with joy!
Thank you my friend for your beautiful heart and joyful presence!
May warm love and soft peace be yours. ;D
Welcome Evita, a pleasure to have you here!
Yes, Love is the most misunderstood of our values and is manipulated and represented by so many other substitutes because we are afraid of it. To know love again, to know that it exists within and is always there no matter what, is the highest purpose of our life. To share that with others is the greatest of gifts.
May you come to know and live in the beauty of your own love!
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