Love is the law of God. You live that you may learn to live. You love that you may learn to live. No other lesson is required of Man. And what is it to love but for the lover to absorb forever the beloved so that the twain be one? You are the tree of life. Beware of fractioning yourselves. Set not a fruit against a fruit, a leaf against a leaf, a bough against a bough; nor set the stem against the roots; nor set the tree against the mother- soil. That is precisely what you do when you love one part more than the rest, or to the exclusion of the rest. You are the tree of life. Your roots are everywhere. Your boughs and leaves are everywhere. Your fruits are in every month. Whatever be the fruits upon that tree; whatever be its boughs and leaves; whatever be its roots, they are your fruits; they are your leaves and boughs; they are your roots. If you would have the tree bear sweet and fragrant fruit, if you would have it ever strong and green, see to the sap wherewith you feed the roots. Love is the Sap of life While Hatred is the Pus of Death. But Love, like blood, must circulate unhindered in the veins. Repress the blood, and it becomes a menace and a plague. And what is Hate but love repressed, or Love withheld, therefore becoming such a deadly poison both to the feeder and the fed; both to the hater and to that he hates? No love is possible except the love of self. No self is real save the All- embracing self. Therefore is God all Love, because He loves Himself. So long as you are pained by Love, you have not found your real self, nor have you found the golden key of Love. Because you love an ephemeral self, your love is ephemeral. The love of man for woman is not love. It is thereof a very distant token. The love of parent for the child is but the threshold to Love‟s holy temple. Till every man be every woman‟s lover, and the reverse; till every child be every parent‟s child, and the reverse, let men and women brag of flesh and bone clinging to flesh and bone, but never speak the sacred name of Love. For that is blasphemy. Love is not a virtue. Love is a necessity; more so than bread and water; more so than light and air. Let no one pride himself on loving. But rather breathe- in Love and breathe it out just as unconsciously and freely as you breathe- in the air and breathe it out. Seek no rewards for Love. Love is reward sufficient unto Love, as Hate is punishment sufficient unto Hate. Love neither lends nor borrows; love neither buys nor sells; but when it gives, it gives its all; and when it takes, it takes its all. It‟s very taking is a giving. It‟s very giving is a taking. Therefore is it the same to- day, to- morrow and forevermore. There is no „more‟ or „less‟ in Love. The moment you attempt to grade and measure Love it slips away leaving behind it bitter memories. Nor is there „now‟ and „then‟, nor „here‟ and „there‟ in Love; all seasons are Love seasons. All spots are fit abodes for Love. Love knows no boundaries or bars. A Love whose course is checked by any obstacle whatever is not yet worthy of the name of Love. I often hear you say that Love is blind, meaning that it can see no fault in the beloved. That kind of blindness is the height of seeing. Love is peace a throb with melodies of life. Hatred is war agog with fiendish blasts of Death. Which would you: Love and be at everlasting peace? Or hate and be at everlasting war? The whole earth is alive in you. The heavens and their hosts are alive in you. So love the Earth and all her sucklings if you would love yourselves. And love the Heavens and all their tenants if you would love yourselves. [[Mikhail Naimy]] [[via Ralph]]