Tuesday, January 26, 2010

Conditional Love

The closest someone could ever experience Unconditional Love, in my perception, is Mother's Love.

They say that Mother's Love is Unconditional. I say that it is conditional - for it is because you are my child, that I love you - and that is conditional. This, I realised 1.5 years ago from the wise sharing of Angel. :)

I remember a monk once told me when I visited the Chetawan Temple - the Buddha said, 'A woman will only know what is true love, when she has her own child'. Of course, I am not sure if these are exact words. I can't even remember if these were the exact words I heard - but it was what the mind understood it to be.

Today, I dropped by someone dear's house. Let's call this person 'F'. When I drove passed his house, I noticed that his car was in hence the decision to dropped by to just to say hi. We chatted casually for a while (most of time he and Thea) and I casually asked a question about his girlfriend which little did I know, would result in my writing this entry. He revealed that he was trying to get away from his girlfriend because she can't cook, she doesn't work, enjoys life too much and blah blah blah... in short, she is not a hardworker, like him. And the word struck me - conditional. She has to be this and that, in order for him to fully accept her into his life. Just to brief, they were on some cooling off period recently because F had lots in his mind - which he admitted had nothing to do with her. Because he couldn't handle himself, he shut her out, showing anger towards her whenever she called. She could not understand why, so she respected his request to be left alone and prayed for him, wishing him well. And then one day, she called me and shared with me that he finally met up with her and that they were fine. So I thought things must be going well for him.

Today is approximately about a week from the time she called, and now he is reacting differently? I don't get it. But of course, I also understand that whatever that I am interpreting may not be what it actually is. For all I know, nothing is going on and he is just talking c*@k. 

But it hurt when he said this, "if you know how to put me as important, then I will know how to make you important." or something like that... so... it is back to 'What's in it for me?'

It hurts because it was reflecting what I still had not resolved within myself - conditional love - always, always linked to a sense of belonging and approval.

Why do we, so often, behave a certain way, say certain things or whatever - unable to fully be our own authentic self - so to be loved and accepted by another? Why do we, so often, expect people to behave in a certain way, do or say certain things, so that we could accept and love them? Who are we then accepting and loving? It is truly that person, for who he or she truly is? Or is it our ideas of that person, of who he or she should be? We say this, "at the very least she/he/you can be.../ could be.../ should be..."; and the Master says, "isn't that also, a condition?"

Can we truly love unconditionally? I see possibilities when we release our baggages/ideas that creates an illusion of someone or something out there, together with an open heart. :)  I am fortunate to have experience glimpses of unconditional love and here I mean strangers and things all around - the waiter who is making coffee behind the counter, the man who sweeps by the roadside, the switch plug (is this what it's call?) on the wall, the fan spinning from the ceiling... all whom and what I do not know. I was loving them without meaning.. they were all just beautiful!! And it was a splendid, splendid feeling...  :)

Will I, or will I not? I trust... :)

Namaste.

12 comments:

  1. Is unconditional love important? If yes, why? If no, why do people still seek unconditional love?

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  2. Neither seeing conditional love as right or wrong, but simply part of Nature unfoldment is unconditional love.

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  3. Hi Mun, I don't really know if it is important or not. The entry are just my thoughts - I see a possibility of freedom when no conditions are placed in relationships or love. Say, if you do this and that only I love you as compared to whether you do or not, irregardless, I love you. Or, if you love me, then I love you.. lols! So funny, depending on another to fulfil ourselves, or to help us decide if we should be with you/love you or not!

    htl: True, there is no right or wrong.. but there sure is yucky bondage. :p

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  4. Frankly, I don't think i have reach the stage of loving unconditionally, everything must come with a "If...then...". Perhaps one day i will learn to love unconditionally or perhaps i will never learn to love that way...Flesh is weak and we are only human.

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  5. Hi sdovelly, according to my wise friend, as long as we are here, it is hard to love unconditionally though it is possible. I'd say that there's no need to try for we can 'do' conditional or unconditional loving. It arises from a pure state of mind, so I guess it is just helpful now to be present and aware/mindful of our intentions of requests and doings. :)

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  6. Hi Gerry, thanks for sharing your thoughts. Your post caused me to think more about this unconditional love. The more I think about it, the more confused I became. lols!

    To me, love is a feeling and not an action so by just having someone doing something to fulfill my needs will not make me love them and vice versa. Therefore I can love someone unconditionally but yet I do not want that person to be my spouse. And also loving someone unconditionally does not mean that I accept all their actions.

    For example, I love my spouse (and I would like to think that it is unconditional) but say if he suddenly develops an addiction to gambling and no matter what I do, I could not help him shake off this addiction, he will no longer be my spouse although I still feel love for him but I cannot live with a person who is addicted to gambling (I cannot live with the gambling action and the consequences caused by excessive gambling).

    So the way I see it, we cannot control who we love but we can certainly control who we want to live with and spend our time with. But then again it all depends on the definition of love.

    Have I managed to confuse anyone else here as well? I think I better stop now before I get even more confused. Sorry for being long-winded on your blog. :)

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  7. Hey Mun, you managed to confuse me now!!! haha...

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  8. Hi Mun! Thanks for your well-written comments! I think you are right, loving a person doesn't necessarily mean that you need to be or live with that person. My father used to tell me, "I may love you, but that doesn't mean I like you!" Lols. And I thought that Love would embrace everything!!

    Where I was coming from was more from the angle of acceptance or approval, to be love-through criterias, i.e. I have to be this or that for this person to qualify me to be loved, accepted and approved of. Deep in us, we usually have this fear of not being loved, fear of being rejected or fear of abandonment so we tend to do things to please others so that we are always welcomed and loved. This is when we are most of the time, not true to ourselves-not being our authentic self.

    I can see from your replies that you have integrity and that is great! Good on ya, mun!!

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  9. Hi Gerry, thanks for elaborating from your viewpoint. I understand what you mean now. :)

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  10. I have not loved myself fully enough and for that I can never love you totally. I can't love myself more as I do not know how. There is no measuring scale that tells me I am fully loved. I am trying and yet not knowing what I am trying. Arrggghhhh... just simply love lah! But, but... am I loving?

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  11. Conditional Love is not love lar. "Because you are my child I love you" - Don't quite agree with you saying that is conditional love. Unless of course the mother's intention is to bring up a child so she can be proud of and to show off to everyone. Or so that the child can take care of her when she is old. I very much agree with you that we must check in with ourselves in regards to our intentions when we do something. Whether we have any condition attached when we love someone. But that means we have to be always fully aware of our thoughts and intentions. Unconditional love? Well, I say you practice unconditional love if you fly off to Haiti now to help the quake victims and not tell the whole world about it. For the love of humankind, you help them and not expect anything in return. Can ah? But if unconditional love is helping or loving someone without expecting anything in return, what about the return of the 'feel good feeling'? You like the 'feel good feeling' loving someone not expecting anything in return, is that not conditional because you seek the 'feel good feeling'? Can we continue to unconditionally love our spouse even if he gamble, womanise or is always drunk? Can we even unconditionally love someone?

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  12. htl: see your reflections, then you will know if you are loving or not. :)

    Anonymous: Thank you for visiting my blog and noting your valuable comment. :) What you refer to as unconditional love in the 'feel good feeling' is a kind of selfless-selfish loving. What I meant by conditional loving is when and what we expect someone out there to be or fulfil in order for us to approve, accept or love them; and vice versa. If we are truly of a nature of unconditional love, would it be correct to say that we wouldn't even have specific ideas on gambling, womanising or drinking as a reason not to love or accept?

    I don't know if we can unconditionally love someone or something because I am not there yet, but I do see a possibility.

    What we give, we will always receive. It is a cycle that balances itself naturally. Whether it is a returned-action or a feel-good-feeling. That is what we are entitled to when we give - 100% of whatever that we give out each time.

    Having said that, don't believe what I say. My entries or inputs are just my views. We are all entitled to our own perceptions. :)

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