Zicoflex Love: it
sounds
so
simple,
but is
actually
quite
complex.
People
often
describe
a felt
sense
of the
experience
of love,
as in “I
feel so
loved,”
or the
longing
for
“unconditional
love.”
Love is
not
something
we can
measure,
hear,
observe
or hold,
but we
believe
in it.
There
are
many
different
kinds
of love:
The
way
your
dog
greets
you
when
you
come
home
at
the
end
of
the
day
Love
between
parent
and
child,
grandparent
and
grandchild,
or
other
family
constellation
The
love
you
might
feel
for
ancestors
you’ve
never
met
A
beloved
object
of
sentimental
value,
such
as
a
photograph,
a
scarf
or
other
personal
item,
a
blanket
or
piece
of
clothing
given
to
you
or
owned
by
someone
special
Romantic
love:
that
elusive
elixir
that
evokes
passion,
rage,
desire
and
a
feeling
of
home
Even
a
particular
food
item,
song,
movie
or
book
can
inspire
a
raucous
shout
of
“OMG
I
love
that!”
Take a
moment
to
recall a
time
when
you
felt
love for
someone
or
something.
Notice
your
own
thoughts,
emotions
and
sensations
when
you
connect
to that
memory.
What
does
love
feel
like?
It’s a
little
hard to
put
into
words.
Sometimes
love
sneaks
up and
surprises
us,
while
other
times
we
actively
seek it
out.
Love
poetry
can be
found
in
nearly
every
cultural
and
spiritual
tradition.
Some
of my
favorite
volumes
of
poetry
are
Love
Poems
from
God:
Twelve
Sacred
Voices
from
the
East
and
West
translated
and
edited
by
Daniel
Ladinsky,
The
Book of
Hours:
Love
Poems
to God
by
Rainer
Maria
Rilke,
The
biblical
Song of
Songs,
and
Twenty-
One
Love
Poems
by
Adrienne
Rich.
This
one,
“Open
the
Love-
Window”
by Sufi
poet
Jalaluddin
Rumi, is
a
recent
favorite
of
mine:
At
night, I
open
the
window
and
ask the
moon
to
come
and
press
its face
against
mine.
Breathe
into
me.
Close
the
language-
door
and
open
the
love-
window.
The
moon
won't
use the
door,
only
the
window.
Religious
traditions
speak
of love
in
many
ways.
For
example,
lovingkindness
(chesed
and
metta
in
Judaism
and
Buddhism
respectively),
the
commandment
to love
God
with all
your
heart,
soul
and
fierceness
that
appears
in the
Torah
as well
as the
New
Testament.
Religious
liturgy
and
sacred
texts
include
passages
that
describe
in richly
textured
detail
how
God
loves
people
and
creation,
as well
as how
we are
taught
to love
God.
Love is
also a
thread
woven
throughout
many
social
justice
movements.
The
Unitarian
Universalist
community’s
social
justice
campaign
for
social
justice
is called
“Standing
on the
Side of
Love:
Harnessing
Love’s
Power
to Stop
Oppression.”
In his
book
Strength
to
Love,
Rev. Dr.
Martin
Luther
King Jr.,
wrote:
"Hate
cannot
drive
out
hate:
only
love
can do
that."
Other
activists
like
Rev. Dr.
Cornel
West,
and
Annemie
Bosch,
a
Christian
activist
from
the
South
African
anti-
apartheid
movement,
have
written
of
justice
as love
made
visible.
This
discussion
would
be
incomplete
without
mentioning
love
songs,
which
have
been
written
and
sung
for
generations
and
around
the
globe.
Rock ‘n
roll, R &
B, hip
hop,
folk
music,
the
blues,
jazz,
gospel,
and
many
more
genres
have
crooned
and
riffed
about
love,
heartbreak
and
romance.
Love
songs
are
played
at
weddings
and
funerals.
When
we
hear
them,
sometimes
many
years
after a
relationship
has
ended,
certain
love
songs
can
evoke
a wave
of
powerful
emotion.
Does
love
disappear
when
the
object
itself
(be it
thing or
person)
goes
away?
Ask
anyone
who’s
experienced
the
death
of a
loved
one.
How do
we
love
when
the
other
person
has
died?
Or
perhaps
the
love of
a pet
that
lingers
long
after
the
animal
has
died.
And
what
about
self-
love?
It’s
hard to
talk
about
self-
love
without
sounding
like a
sappy
woo-
woo
self-
help
guru.
I’m not
promoting
narcissism
here;
rather I
am
talking
about
loving
ourselves
with
the
same
kind of
fullness
and
compassion
we feel
for
others.
Society
tries to
put
love
into
boxes
or
categories,
sanctioning
some
and
prohibiting
others.
These
categories
are
often
contradictory
and
mercurial.
Same-
gender
love
and
loving
across
lines of
different
races,
religions,
classes
or
cultures
are
often
judged,
criminalized
or
feared.
Returning
to the
original
question,
HOW
DO WE
LOVE--
I’d like
to
suggest
that
we
take on
love as
a daily
practice,
not
just
reserved
for
Valentine’s
Day,
anniversaries
or
birthdays.
This
invitation
to love
as a
daily
practice
places
me
face to
face
with
my
own
scars
and
demons.
How
would
we live
if we
knew,
felt
and
trusted
that
we are
truly
loved?
How
would
we
return
that
love in
every
human
encounter?
How
would
we
love
the
earth
and all
of
creation?
Karen
Lee
Erlichman,
MSS,
LCSW,
has a
private
practice
in San
Francisco,
where
she
provides
psychotherapy,
spiritual
direction,
supervision
and
mentoring.