Love is a major theme in life. It’s an integral part of most spiritual and religious practices. It's a complex and vague emotion, with many layers, types, and intensities involved. As with all the nice things granted to humankind, it is often corrupted by our confusion, greed, need, and fear.
“Love one another, as I have loved you,” Jesus commanded his disciples. That's a great recommendation. In theory, human life on planet earth would shift to a healthier, happier, and more satisfying experience if we could do it. Yet it appears to be a challenge for even the most pious practitioner.
While love isn't mentioned specifically in the Yoga Sutras by Patanjali, the Sutras guide us to an open, loving heart and a calm, quiet mind. By practicing the eight limbs of yoga, we get to study all the obstacles to love, compassion, goodwill, generosity, and serenity toward ourselves and others.
By studying the obstacles (or Kleshas in Sanskrit, meaning poisons and impurities), we develop a greater understanding of the confusion that closes and limits our minds and hearts. Mindfulness heals our confusion, just by shining the light of awareness on it.
The first limb is the social ethics of the Yamas: kindness, honesty, non-stealing, moderation, and generosity. In considering honesty, as an example, we must study our lies. We lie for a variety of reasons related to a deeply held sense of inadequacy, need, fear, etc. We prefer a false version of ourselves because we are dissatisfied with our perception of the "truth." We believe we are not enough. We lie because we are not living in accordance with our wisdom.
As we aspire to honesty, kindness, generosity, etc, we untangle the damaging negativity that darkens our lives and the way we interact with ourselves and others.
Our hearts and minds can open to full awareness of our true nature, which is our human birthright: kind, courageous, comfortable, honest, authentic, and loving. But we must study what closes.
“Your task is not to seek for love, but merely to seek and find all the barriers within yourself that you have built against it,” taught Rumi, 13th century Islamic scholar and poet.
“A loving heart is the truest wisdom,” Charles Dickens, 19th century English writer and social critic.
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