The Mystery of Love
Remember that you don't choose love. Love chooses you. All you can really do is accept it for all its mystery when it comes into your life. Feel the way it fills you to overflowing, then reach out and give it away. Give it back to the person who brought it alive in you. Give it to others who deem it poor in spirit. Give it to the world around you in any way you can.
There is where many lovers go wrong. Having been so long without love, they understand love only as a need. They see their hearts as empty places that will be filled by love, and they begin to look at love as something that flows to them rather than from them.
The first blush of new love is filled to overflowing, but as their love cools, they revert to seeing their love as a need. They cease to be someone who generates love and instead become someone who seeks love. They forget that the secret of love is that it is a gift, and that it can be made to grow only by giving it away.
Remember this and keep it to your heart. Love has its time, its own season, its own reason for coming and going. You cannot bribe it or coerce it, or reason it into staying. You can only embrace it when it arrives and give it away when it comes to you. [...] Love always has been and always will be a mystery. Be glad that it came to live for a moment in your life.
--Kent Nerburn
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46 Past Reflections
On Mar 3, 2023 Sharika wrote :
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On Feb 11, 2023 Norberto Curtin wrote :
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On May 2, 2012 Ricky wrote :
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On May 2, 2012 Tristan wrote :
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On May 1, 2012 Joe wrote :
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On May 1, 2012 Hurt wrote :
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On Apr 30, 2012 Nermin Tammam wrote :
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On Apr 29, 2012 denis khan wrote :
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On Apr 29, 2012 Michael wrote :
What does Kent mean by this? The wording isn't clear.
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On Jul 17, 2011 cyron wrote :
LOVE......Love helps you choose the right and wrong pathways of life... As many says that they did not done any wrong... they just learn how to love,, and on that love they failed..... Just always remember that when you learn how how to love... don't give your 100 percent trust because when this love leaves you,,, even a percent... nothing will left......
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On Jul 14, 2011 Gulrez wrote :
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On Jul 13, 2011 June Bright wrote :
Love has its time. When I married my wife, I know that her love for me is greater than my love for her. She is far from being perfect; but her sincerity covers all her limitations. Thus, she is perfect for me. Now I can say that our lover has leveled up. They're now equally intense.
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On Jul 13, 2011 Jain wrote :
I believe love is a gift of God bless to everyone reach to few..................................................................!
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On Jul 13, 2011 Chie wrote :
Love moves in mysterious ways.... :) I was touched to this story it was wonderful and awesome.
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On Jul 9, 2011 alice wrote :
this is really true.most of us seek for love instead of letting it come to them.and to others when it comes,they dont accept it. this should not be the case.
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On Jul 8, 2011 Dinesh wrote :
A few audio clips from our circle of sharing last week ...
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On Jul 7, 2011 PK wrote :
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On Jul 6, 2011 June Bright wrote :
Love is indeed mysterious. I'm glad it comes into my life; or else, I still wallow in selfishness. It makes me give generously to my beloved; just as God has generously showered me with blessings because of His love for me.
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On Jul 6, 2011 jpsingh wrote :
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On Jul 6, 2011 Tristan wrote :
...beautifully written...
in English, the word "love" refers to many very different things, so this is not the full story on all, naturally...
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On Jul 6, 2011 farzaneh wrote :
hi.please send me ann email when a comment is added on this passage
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On Jul 6, 2011 neha wrote :
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On Jul 5, 2011 Pancho wrote :
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On Jul 5, 2011 Kinjal wrote :
Wonderful passage. Thanks for sharing it. It is a nice way to look at love, to receive and give it away.. it makes me think of how we are shaped to think that we need love to grow, but after reading this passage, I think that the statement still holds but with a new meaning. We should look inside for that love and grow by giving it. Of course, easier said than done. So, I will keep trying :)
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On Jul 5, 2011 Maria wrote :
Hmmmm, I am reflecting on your words and it seems to me I used to think this way--that love chooses us, we don't choose Love--but I think that statement is limiting and puts love in a context outside of who we really are. I think that love always IS within and without and all arouwe are born with it, it is part of our physical and spiritual being. How we live our life according to the energy of love, opens us up to how much we recieve and build on what we already have. It is limitless. If we "lack love", it really isn't missing, we've just turned down the love light because of our experiences.....and because of our expereinces again, we rebuild the light and until it's flame burns brighter. Staying conscious of living in the light, living in love allows us to be fulfilled in love in it's limitless form.
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On Jul 5, 2011 Rajesh wrote :
For me, the most enduring characteristic of love is that it has no dependencies. It is complete in and of itself.
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On Jul 5, 2011 jhon wrote :
Love does not choose you and you can't return love. Love stays in your heart for ever, if you love it; otherwise you have fallen for attraction -- not love.
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On Jul 5, 2011 Siddharth wrote :
I felt relaxed after reading this thought!
The author is absolutely true in saying that love is not a voluntary act. I agree that love should be returned, but sir I have a problem love choosed me but the I am not able to return it to the person who is responsible for it in consequence I am having emotional problems,
The question is this is the returning of love to the originator of love mandatory or their can be some other alternative.
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On Jul 5, 2011 angela wrote :
Kent, I was very inspired by your story! I once fell in love with someone who just took me for granted .... I showed him how much I really love and care for him but he turned me down ... But I'm glad that after 2 years I finally moved on... I just hope maybe one day I can have someone by my side who'll love me without ifs and buts... Someone who can be proud of me when we're together...
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On Jul 5, 2011 Abhinav Garg wrote :
"you don't choose love. Love chooses you" in concrete words....I have been contemplating on these thoughts...but couldn't reach the conclusion...you saved me years of mental hard work...thanks..once again.
love is something you give and not something you seek .... we as a youth ought to absorb in the essence of this thought ... specially those who "propose" a pretty gal...to seek her approval to start loving her... love is something..dat outflows on its own.....wen u see a kid smiling on getting a new toy... young couple holding hands..walking the lanes of their dreams... you don't need sumone approve of your love....
tolstoy wrote to Gandhiji once " love is the founding principle of all the religion"... but later on it loses its significance, as dust start piling on it .... Ego, hatred, voilence.....corruption..weakness.
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On Jul 4, 2011 Tessa wrote :
I can only hope that this love you speak of, will find me one day too. What I thought was love in the past, was often just a temporary lust!
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On Jul 4, 2011 smile wrote :
The comments on the passage help derive the beauty and enlightenment within.
Love contains huge strength and can create greatness. Happiness and peace are a package deal.
Without it gloom, sadness or distress may be experienced in exactly the same situation
Thank you so much.
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On Jul 4, 2011 Smita wrote :
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On Jul 4, 2011 Shariq wrote :
As the mystery of love unfolds it resonates with/in us: "When we are in love, our love is too big a thing for us to be able altogether to contain it within ourselves. It radiates towards the loved one, finds there a surface that arrests it, forcing it to return to its starting point, and it is this repercussion of our own feeling which we call the other's feelings and which charms us more then than on its outward journey because we do not recognize it as having originated in ourselves. – Marcel Proust
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On Jul 4, 2011 Abhi wrote :
awesome.........i just felt so relieved after reading this
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On Jul 4, 2011 Navin wrote :
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On Jul 4, 2011 susan schaller wrote :
"Love is a centrifugal force," my father used to say, meaning one can never hold on to it or it stops. Love has to move through us, outward. I love to meditate on how we can be brave, protect, advocate and take care of others by being: "Just as a mother, with her live, protects her child, her only child, from harm, so within you, let grow a boundless love for all creatures. Let your love flow outward, throughout the universe......." Happy Interdependence Day.
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On Jul 4, 2011 Conrad wrote :
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On Jul 4, 2011 Dhara wrote :
"One word frees us of all the weight and pain of life: that word is love."
Sophocles
Unconditional love is like the love a mother has for her child, no matter how the child reacts or responds, the child is always loved the same.
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On Jul 4, 2011 Ricky wrote :
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On Jul 4, 2011 Edit Lak wrote :
Thank you Mr Nerburn
Love is truely a mystery
I dont really know what love is, but maybe one day love will find me,
and then I will be able to give it away..