I'm a couple days late, I know, but I didn't really intend this to be a thesis on love as a tribute to St. Valentine, it's simply a coincidence that the notion struck me this week. What this is intended to be is an argument that "love" is a rational act. The active engagement of a part of our rational brain that is intended to provide us with a unique phenomena which sets us apart (according to most people) from most of the rest of the animal kingdom. The reason I am proposing that this action (loving) is rational is because of the result of this phenomena on our psyche'. I doubt that any other act could produce this effect. I doubt that mankind could have survived as the dominant species on the planet without this effect. I believe this effect has produced an ability to accomplish much of what we consider to be the greatest accomplishments of man.
I'll try to clarify, under the orange do-dadd.
I'm paraphrasing much of the following, mostly because I find claims that there are any actual "words of christ" (e.g. direct quotes) in the Bible, but also because I'm lazy and don't feel like looking up the supposed quotes.
(it would be rather pointless to attempt to properly quote what you don't think are proper quotes, wouldn't it?)
Anywho!
A bunch of guys (twelve if reports are to be believed) were sitting around one day (a couple thousand years ago) discussing which of "God's Laws" were the most important.
(I guess they were already trying to figure out which ones they could cheat on, and which ones were certain to bring them damnation.)
Presumably, they already had God's simplified code (The Ten Commandments) which made life much easier than trying to sift through all the books in the Torah, the Old Testament and the Dead Sea Scrolls in order to pull out which of God's mandates actually still applied and which to ignore. So, they're debating the merits of each of the commandments when who should walk in but their teacher, Jesus of Nazareth. It seemed to the group that this was exactly the kind of question to ask the one guy who presumably knew the answer without a doubt.
His reply? Love everyone. Love yourself, love your neighbor, love the sinner, love the Pharisees, and especially love the poor and pitiful. Love them all!
Why?
Love is rational. That's not Jesus, that's me.
The act of loving someone, confers a particular phenomena on the person who loves. It provides a broadening of their perspective in a way that nothing else can. It enforces an alteration in the way the brain perceives the world. You can not LOVE someone and not have EMPATHY. It just can not happen. To truly love, you MUST SEE THE WORLD AS THEY SEE IT. You share their perspective and they (if they love you in return) share yours. It doesn't mean you have to have the same perspective, but IN LOVE you must be able to see as they do. You also must have SYMPATHY. It will never be the case that the person you love will be faultless, no one is perfect. But, in loving them you must develop the ability to forgive their faults, just as they (if they love you in return) will have to develop the ability to forgive yours. You will have to learn that misfortune comes to us all at some point, and you will have to be sympathetic to the trials and tribulations that each of us experience, even if (especially if) the particular problem seems trivial to you. If it happens to a "loved one" it takes on a greater significance, because you love them.
It is my proposal that these two characteristics (EMPATHY and SYMPATHY) are impossible to possess, unless you have experienced LOVE.
Which is why I find it fascinating that so many who profess the ability "to love" in the most strident tones, ultimately fail a simple test of observation of how they behave, which gives lie to their claims. How can anyone claim that they understand the teachings of the Bible, yet demonstrate a total lack of the two essential qualities produced by the act of loving someone? I find it impossible to explain in any terms that would make sense. It simply can not be.
I suspect that a part of the truth, may be in the phrasing that the Bible cites as being "Jesus' words"; "Love thy neighbor as thyself".
An easy proposition for those who DO love themselves.
Utterly impossible for those whose own self loathing would simply eliminate the basic quality essential for the statement to have any meaning.
If you hate yourself, you can't love anyone.
So, my simple proposal is this; the next time you encounter one of those smug, self-righteous, hypocritical, holier-than-thou types, do the one thing that they can't do, Love them!