Love Month Series #5: Should We Give Up on Love?

I should stop posting "nonsense." That was what an irate friend told me yesterday.

Obviously in reaction to my recent posts about love, my friend emailed me links to stories of violence found on the internet saying love is "a tired word that's been overused, abused, and exploited. Try a different approach."

Stung, I was shamefully judgmental and called my friend "cynical." My friend responded saying that I should stop posting "nonsense."

There is no denying that love, though there is no scientific evidence yet and probably no need for any, is the most much-abused and recklessly used word in the English language, and probably in most others as well. Nevertheless, should we give up talking, thinking, living and promoting love?

I thought of the stories my friend sent me. Should I blog about violence without at the same time advocating something else? And what should be my context for writing about violence if not peace. But is peace possible without love?

Here are what some notable people have to say about love and peace:

•  I believe all suffering is caused by ignorance. People inflict pain on others in the selfish pursuit of their happiness or satisfaction. Yet true happiness comes from a sense of peace and contentment, which in turn must be achieved through the cultivation of altruism, of love and compassion, and elimination of ignorance, selfishness, and greed.- Dalai Lama

•  You have heard the law that says, ‘Love your neighbor’ and hate your enemy.  But I say, love your enemies! Pray for those who persecute you!  In that way, you will be acting as true children of your Father in heaven. For he gives his sunlight to both the evil and the good, and he sends rain on the just and the unjust alike. If you love only those who love you, what reward is there for that? Even corrupt tax collectors do that much. If you are kind only to your friends, how are you different from anyone else? - Matthew 5: 43-46 Holy Bible
   
• Love as thought is Truth.   Love as action is Righteous     Conduct. Love as feeling is Peace.   Love as understanding is Non-violence. Love is selflessness. Selfishness is Lovelesness. Love gives and forgives. Selfishness gets and forgets. - Sai Baba, Sathya Sai Speaks. Vol. 5. "Well or ill," Chapter 38     
  

  

• Darkness cannot drive out darkness: only light can do that. Hate cannot drive out hate: only love can do that. - Martin Luther King 

Is love nonsense? Should I, who don't know any better, just keep my mouth shut about love? 

Every now and then I read the following:

^{- Ariel Murphy}