As It Is ~ LOVE REVEALED
LOVE
CAN BE ANALYZED as having five aspects or dimensions:
1)
Purity;
2)
Intensity;
3)
Extensity,
4)
Duration;
5)
Adequacy.
These terms signify the following:
PURITY: The freedom of a kindly action from
any taint of self-interest.
INTENSITY: The extent to which a person actually
does what he says as regards loving other people.
A person who says I love humanity," but seldom
does anything tangible to implement it has low intensity
love.
EXTENSITY: The radius of a person's loving
concern. A person who is concerned only about his
own children has relatively low extensity, although
it is higher than one who is concerned only about
himself. One who is concerned about the children of
his neighbor has a little wider extensity; and one
who is concerned about children all over the world,
whether he is acquainted with them or not, has still
wider extensity. Persons like the Buddha, Jesus, and
St. Francis, whose loving concern seems to have been
universal in scope, have the highest extensity of
all. (The Buddhist Scriptures repeatedly show the
Buddha's universal concern for all sentient life).
DURATION: The length of time that an act
of creative altruism consumes. The act of giving a
coin to a blind man is certainly an act of merit,
but its duration is very slight, as compared with
the acts of a person who year after year goes to read
for the blind or transcribe books in braille.
ADEQUACY: The degree to which the consequences
of a kindly act correspond with its intention. It
is generally accepted that an act is to be judged
by its motive, but the consequences of an act should
also be taken into account. A person may perform an
action with a motive of pure unadulterated kindness,
but if he does it without good judgment it might result
in tragedy, and he is, in part, responsible. A classic
illustration of this is told with many variations
in the old Buddhist Jataka Tales: A monkey wanted
to kill the flies that were troubling his master's
sleep. Picking up a branch that was lying nearby,
he aimed a blow at his master's forehead, killing
all the flies, but also killing his master!"
(Extracted from Gina Cerminara's book: Insights for
the Age of Aquarius [published by Quest Books of the
Theosophical Society], where she comments on the ideas
of noted sociologist Pitirim Sorokin about the nature
of love).
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