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The Nature of Love
Transcending suffering through love.
Although the nature or essence of love is a subject of frequent debate, different aspects of the word can be clarified by determining what isn’t love (antonyms of “love”). Love as a general expression of positive sentiment (a stronger form of like) is commonly contrasted with hate (or neutral apathy).
In addition to meditation and the exploration of kōans, one must also learn to conserve resources and balance them.
A Kōan (公案) is a dialogue, story, question, or statement which is used in Zen practice to provoke the “great doubt”, to practice or test a student’s progress in Zen, and bring them to a deep and profound understanding of the nature of love.
This can be of great value to an atheist or agnostic just as it may be for the deeply spiritual person. By merging many approaches, one is in a sense creating a post-modern monastery. Here one may enter a state of awareness where one has less stress, less anxiety, less greed, less concern for the mistakes of the past or expectations of the future, and a true and authentic sense of joy and happiness.
