The Courage to Love

I want to write about the courage to love, but I can't find the words. Love is too precious, courage is too hard to define in such a context. And yet I know that love requires courage. I know that if you are not willing to break down every single barrier within yourself, no other person can see, feel or experience you, you cannot be loved. It takes tremendous courage to do that. There are a million and a half reasons not to. There are Infinite reasons to make sure it is your highest life ambition.

Yet, nor can we love if we cannot remove every vestige of those same barriers. It is simply not possible to see, feel or experience another person through the deluge of preconception and judgment. You must remove the barriers of your mind, by allowing the experience to happen untainted by judicious thought. It takes a lot of courage to surrender to love, to relinquish fear as a safety net to fall back on 'in case things don't work out.' It takes courage to make things work out.

But mostly love takes such incredible courage because it is the interplay of cellular convergence, and that is intense beyond anything fathomable. You can't hide a cell behind resistance. You can't hide a cell behind a mask. Opening up that far exposes you to another human being in a place that requires mututal dignity, grace, honor and deep, deep respect.

And it takes courage to keep open to the possibility of finding that in another human soul.

Blessings.
- Darshan

© 2008 Darshan F Jessop