For a long while now, this idea has been bouncing around in my head but I can't seem to make it fully formed. This is an idea that could be comfortable in this thread or the Relationships and Dating Forum if that's what it's called.
There is only one relationship. The relationship between self and other. The distinctions we make between our relationships with family, friends, neighbours, significant others, enemies etc. are only artificial categories we've created in our minds.
If perfect love is desirable then the way we act towards each other should be the same regardless of what category others fall in. Of course, there will be differences in intimacy but that's not my focus. I'm thinking that instead of spending our time trying to deepen our various relationships maybe what we should be doing is trying to act with perfect love all the time to everyone not making any distinction about who they are. The focus being on our actions not on others. I think the distinctions are the trap. Distinctions lead to a desire of ownership and ownership isn't love. It could be greed, vanity, a host of things but it's definitely not love.
Any opinions?
There is only one relationship. The relationship between self and other. The distinctions we make between our relationships with family, friends, neighbours, significant others, enemies etc. are only artificial categories we've created in our minds.
If perfect love is desirable then the way we act towards each other should be the same regardless of what category others fall in. Of course, there will be differences in intimacy but that's not my focus. I'm thinking that instead of spending our time trying to deepen our various relationships maybe what we should be doing is trying to act with perfect love all the time to everyone not making any distinction about who they are. The focus being on our actions not on others. I think the distinctions are the trap. Distinctions lead to a desire of ownership and ownership isn't love. It could be greed, vanity, a host of things but it's definitely not love.
If I speak in the tongues of men and of angels, but have not love, I am only a resounding gong or a clanging cymbal. If I have the gift of prophecy and can fathom all mysteries and all knowledge, and if I have a faith that can move mountains, but have not love, I am nothing. If I give all I possess to the poor and surrender my body to the flames, but have not love, I gain nothing. Love is patient, love is kind. It does not envy, it does not boast, it is not proud. It is not rude, it is not self-seeking, it is not easily angered, it keeps no record of wrongs. Love does not delight in evil but rejoices with the truth. It always protects, always trusts, always hopes, always perseveres. Love never fails. But where there are prophecies, they will cease; where there are tongues, they will be stilled; where there is knowledge, it will pass away. For we know in part and we prophesy in part, but when perfection comes, the imperfect disappears. When I was a child, I talked like a child, I thought like a child, I reasoned like a child. When I became a man, I put childish ways behind me. Now we see but a poor reflection as in a mirror; then we shall see face to face. Now I know in part; then I shall know fully, even as I am fully known. And now these three remain: faith, hope and love. But the greatest of these is love. (1 Corinthians 13:1-13)
Any opinions?