When is love complete?

Excited to see an old friend.

Energized when achieving a vision together.

Elated when sharing a common purpose.

So many of our feelings and actions are bound in realities we create with others. These cause spectacular ups and devastating downs. The thrills of an emotional rollercoaster are valuable as they teach us how to respond in extreme circumstances but they are not essential. Love is the chief driving force and it is the cleanest-burning fuel for everything we want to do.

With feelings, attraction arises towards a part of another person's reality: their looks, certain elements of their character, the way they carry themselves, or what they know. Then, the grasping for the attractive parts arises. Lust is the product of the attraction to the body. Fandom comes out of the attraction towards someone's character or accomplishments. Sapiosexuals openly admit to being attracted to the mind.

With desire for a different reality, passion arises. This hunger for matching the inner reality with the outside world consumes those we most admire. Enveloped in their inner world, they are driven to achieve the impossible. Their discoveries, inventions, and reforms push humanity further, but in what direction?

Individually, cravings for another are painful. Love can never be whole as long as it directed. Whether it’s another person or an activity, they can only be loved for who or what they are; they are mere pieces of the rich universe we all inhabit. To cling to those pieces limits reality.

Love can only be complete when it is cultivated towards existence and not every element of it. This universal unbounded love equalizes the ups and the downs. It washes away addiction and brings prosperity and peace. It is not a creature of the idealist mind. It is always just right here. 

Image credit: Rohman2109