Dalai Lama Foundation Study Circle Montreal

UNCONDITIONAL LOVE

Attachment and love are similar in that both of them draw us to the other person. But in fact, these two emotions are quite different. When we’re attached we’re drawn to someone because he or she meets our needs. In addition, there are lots of strings attached to our affection that we may or may not realize are there. For example, I “love” you because you make me feel good. I “love” you as long as you do things that I approve of. I “love” you because you’re mine. You’re my spouse or my child or my parent or my friend. With attachment, we go up and down like a yo-yo, depending on how the other person treats us. We obsess, “What do they think of me? Do they love me? Have I offended them? How can I become what they want me to be so that they love me even more?” It’s not very peaceful, is it? We’re definitely stirred up.

On the other hand, the love we’re generating on the Dharma path is unconditional. We simply want other to have happiness and the causes of happiness without any strings attached, without any expectations of what these people will do for us or how good they’ll make us feel.

October 29, 2012

a project of ServiceSpace

Jacob Needleman: Probing Higher Intelligence

Renowned writer and philosopher, Jacob Needleman, talks about his life: “I began to feel, without knowing how to say it, that when I was looking at a grasshopper or a frog, I was looking at a great idea. The ideas were like living beings! And the living beings were ideas! And so I wanted to go into this field. I wanted to be a philosopher.” Further on in this interview, he says, “No matter how many explanations you make of how things work mechanically, there’s no explanation, really, about why? And there’s no explanation, really, about how? I’m just not impressed by the belief that the brilliance of science means we can conclude that there’s no higher intelligence in the universe.” { read more }

Be The Change

See if you can remember a moment when it seemed like another intelligence was at work in you.

DailyGood is a volunteer-run initiative that delivers “good news” to 121,945 subscribers. There are many ways to help. To unsubscribe, click here.

Other ServiceSpace projects include:

HelpOthers // CF Sites // KarmaTube // Conversations // More