Love Like Water
Water in its clear softness fills whatever hole it finds. It is not skeptical or distrusting. It does not say this gully is too deep or that field is too open. Like water, the miracle of love is that it covers whatever it touches, making the touched thing grow while leaving no trace of its touch.
Most things break instead of transform because they resist. The quiet miracle of love is that without our interference, it, like water, accepts whatever is tossed or dropped or placed into it, embracing it completely.
Of course, we are human and are easily hurt if not loved back or if loved poorly. But we waste so much of life’s energy by deliberating who and what shall be worthy of our love when in the deepest elemental sense, these choices are not in our province, any more than rain can choose what it shall fall upon.
In truth, the more we let love flow, the more we have to love. This is the inner glow that sages and saints of all ages seem to share: the wash of their love over everything before then; not just people, but birds and rocks and flowers and air.
Beneath the many choices we have to make, love, like water, flows back into the world through us. It is the one great secret available to all. Yet somewhere the misperception has been enshrined that to withhold love will stop hurt. It is the other way around. As water soaks scars, love soothes our wounds. If opened to, love will accept the angrily thrown stone, and our small tears will lose some of their burn in the great ocean of tears, and the arrow released to the bottom of the river will lose its point. Only love with no thought of return can soften the point of suffering.
Mark Nepo is a poet, teacher, storyteller and author of the New York Times #1 bestseller, The Book of Awakening. This excerpt is taken from The Book of Awakening.
SEED QUESTIONS FOR REFLECTION: What does loving like water mean to you? Can you share an experience of a time you felt or received such a love? What practice helps you develop the ability to love like this?
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11 Past Reflections
On Jun 24, 2022 Sherry Molina wrote :
1 reply: Ilie | Post Your Reply
On May 21, 2018 Sarah wrote :
I am sure water is the closest synonym of life. We are searching for New Earth planets and the main characteristic by which we define whether we wanna discover more is water on these planets. Water is a universal source.
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On Oct 26, 2015 Pluto178 wrote :
Water is hidden in everything for everything surely contains some water.........it's the Holy Grail the hidden that we seek to find............sometimes we cannot see something but we know its there and eventually we fail to see it. Water is always welcome. x
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On Sep 8, 2015 Sunil, Bangalore wrote :
Love is not an abstract term. But a concrete one.When it flows meaning when you practice it with full life force ( heart & soul) it becomes tangible. You can indeed experience it like water.
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On Sep 8, 2015 Sidney DeKoven wrote :
Lately I see love as an attitude, a choice. When I put on a smiling, happy face, that dispels any negativity in my system and I'm open to send love to all of creation. Maybe it's just tricking the negative egoic mind into believing that I'm happy but it works. Water is a miracle in all forms, raindrops,rivers , tears occupying 70% of the surface of the earth. I think, Love, the greatest miracle of all occupies 100% of the universe. Anything is possible when one opens oneself to Love. Perhaps the greatest Love of all is to , As Christ said, Love those that despise you. For it is then we forget ourselves. And Meher Baba said : when we forget ourselves completely, we find God.
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On Sep 7, 2015 Burton Danet wrote :
Water = Life
Life = Living Independently For Ever
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On Sep 4, 2015 david doane wrote :
Love, like water, gets into every nook and cranny, unselectively affecting everything it touches. We need water to survive; we may not need love to survive, but it certainly helps us to grow and thrive. Like water, love expects nothing in return. Like with water, there's enough love to go around, but we better treasure it and use it wisely, not pollute and misuse it. Unlike water, which is a limited commodity, love is limitless. Love is like muscle, becoming larger and stronger with use; love isn't like a bar of soap that diminishes with use. When I have been loved, I felt that my real self was welcome and valued, and I was open. I feel pleased and privileged when someone responds in that way to me. As I become older, and maybe wiser, I have a more generalized love/compassion, which pleases me very much. Having been loved and being loved have probably helped me the most to develop the ability to love.
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On Sep 4, 2015 Abhishek wrote :
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On Sep 4, 2015 Jagdish P Dave wrote :
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