Love is the most beautiful reality in this world. It permeates the world like God. It is more difficult to “define” love, but it is easier to “know”. We all know what love is. Even an animal knows what love is. Love is therefore a matter of fulfillment and the knowledge of love is knowledge of the universe. St. Kabir, the famous Sufi poet said:
Many people died reading the scriptures,
However, they failed to become wise,
He who understood the meaning of “Love”,
He is the only wise man.
Love is therefore not only an emotion, but also the deepest knowledge that a man can hope to know. Once we know love, there is nothing more unknown. However, there is nothing mysterious or complex about love, as even the most innocent person “knows” without reading a single book.
The knowledge of love requires not only the application of the mind, but also the heart, soul and intuition.
The complexity of love is due to the fact that love has multiple dimensions. It is like a living being that consists of many parts of the body. These limbs are interconnected with each other in such a way that they complement each other. All are an important and integral part of being, since a person becomes lame even if a part of the body disappears.
THE SEVEN DIMENSIONS
Love manifests itself in seven different ways. It is like a ray of white light that hides in it the spectrum of seven colors. If even color is missing, love is incomplete. These seven dimensions are described below.
1. Love is sensual
The most primary dimension of love is the body that leads to the satisfaction of the senses. You cannot love someone you cannot see or imagine. Sensual love is so important in love that people often use the word “love” interchangeably with “lust”, seeking sexual gratification. Although many have believed that lust is the lowest manifestation of love, sensuality has been a necessary ingredient in love. For example, Sufis developed their love for God through sensuality. They imagined God as a man (or woman) and themselves as their beloved. The root of idolatry also lies in man’s need to develop an emotional and sensual bond with God. Religions that ignored the physical dimensions of love often turned their followers ruthless and ruthless. People who ignored the physical dimension of love often fail to find love in their life.
2. Love is compassion
Aristotle said that “love is composed of a single soul that inhabits two bodies.” Perhaps it is the simplest definition of love. When one person loves another, they share the person’s pain and happiness as if they shared the same soul. This is called compassion, which is defined as “a deep awareness and sympathy for the suffering of another.” A mother who loves her child cannot bear the pain of her child and even give her own life, if that helps to reduce the pain of her child. Often people feel possessive of their love, wanting to avoid any pain for their loved one.
3. Love is caring
Love is not simply an emotion that brings people together. When you love a person, you do everything possible to make your loved one happy, since in his happiness is your happiness. The distinction of bodies disappears for lovers. Love without action has no meaning, as illustrated in this beautiful poem “Who loved more?” by Joy Allison.
“I love you. Mother,” said little John;
Then, forgetting about his work, he put on his cap,
And he went to the swing in the garden,
And he left him the water and the wood to bring.
“I love you Mother”, said Rosy Nell-
“I love you more than tongues can say”;
Then he joked and pouted half the day,
Until her mother rejoiced when she went to play.
“I love you Mother,” said little Fan;
“Today I will help you as much as I can;
How happy I am that school is not being maintained! ”
So he rocked the baby until he fell asleep.
Then, taking a gentle step, he went to get the broom,
And he swept the floor and tidied up the room;
Busy and happy all day she was
Helpful and happy as a child can be.
“I love you Mother”, they said again,
Three little boys going to bed;
How do you think that mother guessed?
Which one of them really loved her the most?
If love does not lead to positive caring action, it cannot be love. It is for this reason that every religion asked its followers to do works of charity for the benefit of the poor, since only through positive action God can be pleased and love for God is manifested.
4. Love is sharing
Love is not simply sharing the soul, but also sharing worldly things. A family is a typical unit of love where everyone shares everything with each other. They share the house, their belongings, their furniture and everything in the house. Everything belongs to everyone in the family. The distinction between mine and them disappears for lovers. If you are not willing to share the most valuable with your loved one, surely you do not love that person. A man who loves God always considers that everything belongs to God. Therefore, it would not have any link with any of the material goods. Therefore, he does not hesitate to give his goods to others. Whoever accumulates wealth or remains attached to wealth cannot love. Similarly, someone who does not want to share his wealth with the people he loves does not really love.
5. Love is trust
Trust is the most important thing in love. How to distrust a person who shares his own soul? When trust is lacking, love does not last. When you love, you put all your trust in your faith. Without trust, love is not possible, since trust is the proof of love. It is easy to say that you love someone or to say that you are like two bodies and one soul. However, it is not easy to fully trust your loved one. When a man loves God, he has full confidence in God, which is called faith. When you love your child, you trust him completely. The importance of trust in love is beautifully stated in the poem “Trust” by Malcolm Coleman.
Fragile as a lily,
consolidate relationships.
Without her he could not have felt
to the words, “I love you”,
without it all things fail,
and happiness erodes.Like the trees in autumn
they lose their leaves,
then i lose my life
if you trust I am not.
I must be trustworthy
because trust generates hope and love.Confidence brings to all things
a totality that is sublime,
and that cannot be explained.
My whole soul screams in fear
If they do not believe me.
If I am not trusted
What I can do?
6. Love is reverence
The material world has created hierarchies since each material thing has a beginning and an end and everything is measurable. Hence, everything is larger or smaller than another in some measurable criterion. However, the soul is eternal and has no beginning or end. We often respect people who are older or more knowledgeable than we are in the world. However, all men are spiritually equal since they all have the same soul. However, each soul manifests in this world as a different being. Since they have all been designed for a different purpose, therefore, they are all superior to the others in some respect. A young child is superior to an adult in many ways. Jesus taught,
“Unless you become and become like children, you will not enter the kingdom of heaven” (Matthew 18: 3).
Therefore, when you love a person, you also respect them for who they are. In India, when two people meet, they greet each other by calling, folding their hands and saying the word “Namaste”. The word Namaste consists of two Sanskrit words – namah + te – which means “I bow to that (divinity or soul) inherent in you.”
If you love your child, you respect him as a person for what he is, as you see many good qualities in the child that should be respected. If you don’t respect another person, it simply means that you don’t consider that person better than you in any way. How can you love a person like that who is inferior to you in all respects?
Reverence in the highest form takes the form of worship. People who love God therefore worship God because they consider God to be the highest form of the Soul, which is Supreme in all respects.
7. Love is friendship
When the souls of lovers are one, how can their minds be different? Sharing the mind or thought is called friendship. Aristotle said:
“Without friends no one would choose to live, even though they had all the other assets.”
Friendship is another important dimension of love. Just as one can trust friends in time of need, so does love. Love is not sustainable without the meeting of the mind. Even a religious person, who loves God, actually develops a kind of friendship with God. You can communicate with God and understand his thoughts. A man in love with his beloved knows her thoughts effortlessly. If you love your son, you are also his best friend. When you talk to a child, you automatically use their language, style, and language to communicate. You play with him like a child. Friendship transforms you from adult to child. Children who love their parents are never amazed at their greatness or meanness, as they find them on the same level as themselves. Thus friendship is always present between the people they love.
What is love without all the dimensions?
Most people make mistakes in their understanding of love. A man and a woman may think that love is nothing more than physical attraction. However, that love cannot be sustained unless it is complete in all its dimensions. Therefore, love based on mere physical attraction does not last long unless it is filled with compassion, respect, trust, caring, sharing, and friendship. The love of God is no exception. You cannot find God simply by praying or following rituals. You also have to have compassion on God and develop friendship with Him by knowing His mind. A lover of God must care for and share His creations by doing charity and doing good for other people in the world who are all children of God. Love, therefore, is rightly described as the greatest knowledge in the world, since it is the means and the end of everything that one wants to learn, feel and know.
