Conditional and love are diametrically opposed concepts. Combining both is like combining paradise and hell. Love is founded on freedom, sacrifice, unselfishness, and giving, whereas conditional love is based on insecurity, attachment, control, and profit. Giving without expecting anything in return is one of the most prominent definitions of love. This is an excellent description, since how can we call it giving if the person expects a return, a profit, or a favor? That is investing, and investing is not giving or donating.
Love is giving and it brings joy. There is joy in giving because of love. People strive to be happy, and if "pleasure is the goal," then the giver has achieved his goal. Because he is happy, his heart is joyful, he is complete.
A mother’s love is real, like her joy is real, when she freely gives her milk to her child, knowing that it is the best milk for him. But when she opts to bottle-feed because breastfeeding will disfigure her body if she feels that it is such a hassle for her and that it will get in the way of her own enjoyment, then she lessens her giving, she lessens her joy, and she lessens her love. And when she gives for a reason other than love, then she is not enjoying herself while giving; rather, she is still waiting for that joy, which I fear will never come.
The more we give love, the happier we become. Our happiness increases in direct proportion to the amount of love we are able to offer. The joy of giving comes from love. But the act of giving, however, is not necessarily an automatic act of love. For if a person does not find joy in giving because he expects something in return for what he gives or invests in, then that person is practicing conditional love, which takes rather than gives. Unlike love, there is no real happiness in conditional love because love is not conditional and conditional love is not love. Conditional love is but a shadow of love. It is lust, the perverted reflection of love.
Love is an overused word, and most of the time it is misused. Because lust, the opposite of love, was thought to be love. There is a thin line between lust and love, and most of us find it hard to accept that we actually in lust and not in love. We are easily deluded by what we see, hear, and feel; and when we are covered with lust we became more callous and blind. But what does anyone expects from us? What we have are imperfect senses and pairs of limited ears, nose, and eyes.
Let me try to explain lust, simply by comparing it with love. If love is giving, lust is taking; if love brings joy, lust brings pain; if love is eternal, lust is temporary; if love is based on freedom, lust is based on control. If love is based on knowledge, lust is based on ignorance; if love is spiritual, lust is material; and if lust is conditional, love is unconditional. However, if love is from God, lust is not from evil for everything is from God. Moreover, although it can and it drives people to do evil deeds, it is not evil; I will simply call it lust. “It arises from contemplation and attachment to sensual pleasure, and it can bring a man to the darkest region of ignorance”. More or less, this is what India’s “Bagavad Gita” states.
Those people should be careful of what they wish for. Because if conditional love is what they want from God, God just might as well give it to them. What will happen if God asked for the reimbursement of all the things that He had freely given to them? What will happen if God asks them to pay for the air that they have already inhaled, inhaling, and inhale in the future? Would they still deny or reject that Supreme Being who created all the things that we use, consumed, love, and enjoy? A Loving Father, whom they claim is like us, a practitioner of conditional love.
Let me try to explain lust, simply by comparing it with love. If love is giving, lust is taking; if love brings joy, lust brings pain; if love is eternal, lust is temporary; if love is based on freedom, lust is based on control. If love is based on knowledge, lust is based on ignorance; if love is spiritual, lust is material; and if lust is conditional, love is unconditional. However, if love is from God, lust is not from evil for everything is from God. Moreover, although it can and it drives people to do evil deeds, it is not evil; I will simply call it lust. “It arises from contemplation and attachment to sensual pleasure, and it can bring a man to the darkest region of ignorance”. More or less, this is what India’s “Bagavad Gita” states.
In The Vedas, it was also written, “Lust is but a perverted manifestation of love”. Maybe this is the reason why it is hard to distinguish lust from love. It is the shadow of love; and being a shadow, it is present wherever love is present. Similarly, love is present wherever “that shadow” is present. In addition, since love brings joy lust also brings joy. Only that, the joy of lust is short live and painful at the end.
Love is not blind and lovers are not blind. So-called lovers that are blind are not lovers but ordinary people that are severely infected by lust.
"The Great Lover" has a perfect vision, and his love is perfect. His love is so great and strong. It enables him to transcend his body's needs.
Even the King of this world could not entice and seduce him to enjoy material things and objects of sensual desire in exchange for his devotion. His love was so strong that he did not care for other things, not even his own life. For the perspective of the blind, this conduct is irrational; however, for a true lover, it is "the way, the truth, and the life."
Even the King of this world could not entice and seduce him to enjoy material things and objects of sensual desire in exchange for his devotion. His love was so strong that he did not care for other things, not even his own life. For the perspective of the blind, this conduct is irrational; however, for a true lover, it is "the way, the truth, and the life."Some people mistakenly believe that God's love is conditional, as if God is a miser who requires anything from anybody.
They obviously do not understand the true meaning of love since they have a very limited understanding of God's nature.
I consider myself a sinner who is not an authority on Godliness. But I have a tremendous desire to know the truth. And in the dark, I can readily sense light. I have a poor tolerance for stupidity and I argue in an unconventional manner. Yes, if only to show and accentuate my weirdness! I'll say God's love is conditional, although this is not its fundamental essence. However, it can and will be if that is what God wants, since He can do anything He wants because He is God.
Those people should be careful of what they wish for. Because if conditional love is what they want from God, God just might as well give it to them. What will happen if God asked for the reimbursement of all the things that He had freely given to them? What will happen if God asks them to pay for the air that they have already inhaled, inhaling, and inhale in the future? Would they still deny or reject that Supreme Being who created all the things that we use, consumed, love, and enjoy? A Loving Father, whom they claim is like us, a practitioner of conditional love.
-ArlenKaliFuentes8/1/2010
