The Practice of Love
Aug. 27th, 2021 03:51 pm![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
libraryofbabelOne's impulse might be to only love those things that show you love—to let those things that are hurtful or difficult fall by the wayside. I think, for many people, to love as such is fine, if they are not called to do otherwise. But if we are to imagine a world better than the one we occupy, we cannot stop there.
I suppose I should speak to what I consider "love" to be. The idea of unconditional love as all-accepting I don't think is productive or useful. Rather, an unconditional love should be one that does not give up on that which is loved, even when things are difficult or tense, or when there is disagreement. Love is investment in others; to want to see them flourish and grow, in spite of adversity, to want to reach mutual understanding, to expect better of them when they falter. In fact, sometimes especially to expect better when they falter.
To love in such a way sometimes requires one to rethink one's own positions; to sometimes bend in accordance—but does not require one's convictions to be subsumed by those of others.
I suppose I should speak to what I consider "love" to be. The idea of unconditional love as all-accepting I don't think is productive or useful. Rather, an unconditional love should be one that does not give up on that which is loved, even when things are difficult or tense, or when there is disagreement. Love is investment in others; to want to see them flourish and grow, in spite of adversity, to want to reach mutual understanding, to expect better of them when they falter. In fact, sometimes especially to expect better when they falter.
To love in such a way sometimes requires one to rethink one's own positions; to sometimes bend in accordance—but does not require one's convictions to be subsumed by those of others.