FINDING TRUE LOVE IN TIMES OF DECEIT
Everyone wants to be loved by others, and it is the nature of the human soul to love. Love provides a feeling of well-being, contentment, security and support that one cannot get from money, power and prestige. Love acts like sunshine, lighting up one’s life, enriching the soul and making it bloom.
But true, unselfish love is becoming increasingly rare nowadays. More and more people are ending up disappointed, disillusioned, bitter or cynical after being rejected, betrayed or abused by someone they loved.
For a lot of people, love has come to mean emotional and physical intimacy. This may be based on several things.
If we love someone because of their pleasant nature, we may enjoy their company when everything is going well, but such persons may not necessarily be caring or helpful. When faced with difficult circumstances, they may act selfishly, and that will hurt us if we are counting on them to be nice and friendly all the time.
People are also attracted or impressed by someone’s intelligence, polished behaviour or talents, and come to love them. They assume that the other person must be having other good qualities as well. Such a naïve belief can ultimately lead to sorrow, because having one or more remarkable qualities does not necessarily make a person loving or caring. On the contrary, someone with exceptional talents may be self- centred, arrogant or callous about others’ feelings.
Physical attributes are an equally shallow foundation of love. Beauty, as they say, is only skin- deep. In earlier times, poets used to liken a beautiful face to the moon. But after telescopes provided us a closer look at the lunar surface, with all its craters, the moon ceased to be regarded as a symbol of beauty. Similarly, if we take a closer look at the character, behaviour and temperament of those who look beautiful, we might discover some ugly truths and realize that our love was misplaced. Moreover, the body is subject to disease and decay, and love based solely on physical beauty also withers away as the years go by.
Then there is love based on family ties, which is also not guaranteed to be permanent. Dysfunctional families and fratricidal disputes prove that even blood connections provide no assurance of love. When the members of a family become self-centred or egoistic, they stop caring about the feelings of those they live with. Such families get fragmented emotionally and even physically, with each person going his or her own way.
Love can be true and lasting only if it is based on truth. First of all, we need to know our true identity – that we are souls, not bodies. The soul is the sentient point of light that gives life to the body. Peace, purity, love, joy and truth are the natural attributes of every soul. That is why we feel confortable when we experience these qualities. And all human souls are related to each other by the virtue of being the children of the Supreme soul.
Negative traits like anger, ego and greed are impurities that have entered the soul as a result of the soul forgetting itself. Unaware of its strengths and virtues, the soul turned to these vices in its attempts to get a sense of fulfilment, suffering sorrow in the process.
When we remember our real self, the intrinsic goodness of the soul begins to emerge, and it gets strengthened when we establish a mental link of love with God, who is the ocean of all virtues.
Self-awareness opens our eyes to the true identity and innate goodness of others. Such a perspective naturally brings out in us love for all, and fosters healthy and caring relationships that are not entangled in desires and expectations which arise when we identify the self with the body.
Our positive way of looking at others also helps them realize their inner worth and connect with all that is good within them. Relationships that are based on such spiritual awareness help everyone involved develop self-esteem as well as love and regard for others. Such love comes with understanding and does not make any demands on others, which can produce strains in relationships.
When souls experience such love and see that they are not judged, slighted or rejected, they develop the confidence to connect with others on an equal footing.
This is the basis of true love, which God has for all His children, and which we can experience and share to enrich ourselves and heal broken hearts.
If you want to identify your true-self then start your journey to learn about your existence and real purpose of your soul. We all are His Children and our souls by nature are loving and caring but with the lapse of time we tend to forget that and indulge in all vices. To find someone loving, you first need to find Love within yourself. Once that inner-being knows its true worth it won’t settle for anything lesser than True Love!
We at Brahma Kumaris centres, each day thrive to get closer to our real being by practicing easy RajYoga meditation. Visit the nearest centre and start exploring the world of True and Meaningful Love under the guidance of the Supreme Soul!
Also Read:
Seeking Happiness In Wrong Places!
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