"Wherefore must the loved ones of God associate in affectionate fellowship with stranger and friend alike, showing forth to all the utmost loving-kindness, disregarding the degree of their capacity, never asking whether they deserve to be loved." ~- Selections from the Writings of `Abdu'l-Bahá, p. 24
I remember when I first was introduced to this quotation. I was attending a workshop entitled "Strengthening Unity". I loved the presenter and the manner in which she read this quotation, repeating the last phrase so that our hearts would resonate with the words "never asking whether they deserve to be loved". Even after all these years, the immensity of this concept still amazes me. At first blush and in the climate of some popular rhetoric it appears impossible. It invites a new pattern of living. It means to be willingly to endure the pain that this posture of being demands. In facing life this way, we expose our delicate and tender hearts to all manner of darts and abuse. Then it becomes about us and not about the other person or people. These wounds that we sustain in living this way will heal but the healing is through love itself. A continual outpouring of love in circumstances where the world tells us we ought not to love. It seems contradictory in terms that the very thing that wounds us has the ability to also heal us. I believe that as we do this we strip ourselves of our attachment to things of this world and bask in the knowledge that there is no restriction to this love and the shapes it may take in the world. It flows openly and abundantly all around us. Our perception and limited definition of what love actually is, serve to keep our beliefs in a small box to which we feel bound and confined. This keeps us looking inwardly and in fear of opening our hearts and letting the love that resides there, flow to all. We hold grudges and prejudices that prevent us from engaging meaningfully with others and the vicious circle keeps us trapped within its claws until we take the time and find the courage to behave differently. This is where the pain comes in. The forethought and anticipation keep us back from doing the actions that are so necessary for our own healing and the healing of others. It takes a simple strand of love woven through all our interactions to bring about a new pattern of living in our society. The more we vacillate and evade what needs to be done, the more we delay the lasting effects of true love on our hearts and souls. We can actively learn together to be more loving in all that we do but we must brace ourselves for the inevitable pain this new way of being will bring about. We are but channels for this love and in so doing we reap the benefits, as do all around us. It cannot be contained and finds it expression in the flow. Unless and until we characterise our interactions with the intimacy necessary for love to flourish, we will continue to suffer in and among the lovelessness that exists in the world. We need not be unwitting casualties but protagonists building a world that we want to live in.