Love is Reckless
A reflection on Rumi's poem.
“Love is reckless; not reason.
Reason seeks a profit.
Love comes on strong,
consuming herself, unabashed.
Yet, in the midst of suffering,
Love proceeds like a millstone,
hard surfaced and straightforward.
Having died of self-interest,
she risks everything and asks for nothing.
Love gambles away every gift God bestows.
Without cause God gave us Being;
without cause, give it back again.”
-Rumi
To act out of self-interest, desiring a reward for your actions, is to go against the foundational nature of love.
Unconditional love is exactly as it sounds: to give what’s available from a space of loving honesty, without demanding you receive anything in return for doing so. This is a radical agenda for most, and a practice that takes consistent discipline over time to master.
While one may read Rumi’s words above and think strictly to romantic relationships, this concept expands into all facets of our being and how we have been conditioned to operate within a materialistic society.
Why do you do anything?
What is it that you’re actually looking for?
Have you dared to ask the questions above and give an honest reflection behind the motivations of your own actions?
Most people claim to want unconditional love and fulfillment, but go through life attached to the material definitions of success and the need to be somebody.
Endlessly running on the hamster wheel of short term gratification and a validation of identity. All for what? If you’re lucky, to reflect on your deathbed how mindlessly helpless you went through life chasing something that was always where you refused to look: in your own heart. Most don’t even get that opportunity for reflection, as death comes as instantaneous as life.
Most are afraid to admit that they are nobody and know absolutely nothing.
The above statement is applicable for us all. Detachment from who we think we are means to voluntarily put yourself on the cross and let your identity face the painful death of crucifixion.
However, this is the only path to learn how to love unconditionally.
When you are attached to your own identity, your view of others will be founded in the way they play within their own. Instead of looking at others with a sense commonality, as an expression of the same Great Spirit, the lens of identity distorts our vision to only see the differences within the roles we’ve been conditioned to play.
This is the foundational principle for all societal division and discourse. Unification is not possible under the umbrella of identity labels. We can only exist as separate.
It is the fractured sense of self within our separateness that creates the persona of us demanding the external world to fill our perceived inner void.
Nobody can do enough to please us. Regardless of how numb or full of ecstasy we may feel within one moment of time, it is never enough to appease the yearning for a wholeness these distractions will never be able to provide. Temporary sensations give root to addictions and co-dependency, as they’re the only perceived path to alleviate suffering.
Stepping into the unknowns of unconditional love, becoming nobody, is a path of recklessness. The pain of our separateness has been compounding under the surface for the entirety of our lives, and the only way to alleviate it is by going straight through.
Unconditional love requires courage and a willingness to let go of whatever preconceived notions you may have had about the realities of this world. Building a foundation of patience within discomfort requires strict discipline and the recognition of your own tendencies to self-sabotage or attempts to escape from self.
And in the same moment, you must live as if you have already died, accepting and coming to peace with the realities of what is.
Are you willing to give it all, including your life, for the prospect of pure unconditional love?
Unconditional love will not be convenient, comfortable, or carefree. It will expose you to the deepest of your shadows and vulnerabilities, often ripping your heart out with the hidden intention for more light to shine into its cracks.
Once you become aware that you’re nobody, embodying it becomes your greatest responsibility.
The path ahead may be dark, but you have the light to keep going.
Open your heart and let this new way set you free.
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