A fundamental law and why we don't comply

According to Matthew 22:39, Jesus said: "You shall love your neighbor as yourself." He's obviously not referring solely to the neighbors who live in your area - he means everyone. We all share this planet. Anyone who is not you is your neighbor. Yet, people seem to be quite selective about which neighbors they will love and be kind to. Pretty much everywhere we look we can find examples of people not loving their neighbor. War and terrorism are the obvious ones - yet so is turning a blind eye to the plight of others such as the homeless, refugees, sex slaves, girls fighting for the right to an education and the list goes on and on. How about all of the detrimental comments people post on social media against others? How about bullying? How about the simple act of gossiping about others? How about being rude, snarky or nasty to someone? Looking at the state of the world today, it's really important we make the effort to love our neighbors.

I believe the primary reason we do not love our neighbors is because we don't know how to really love ourselves. Think about it - if we truly loved ourselves as Creator loves us, our heart would have no room for any emotion other than love. Love and fear/hate/etc. cannot occupy the same space. We either feel love or we feel other than love. If we connected to the unconditional love that we truly are, we would have zero desire to hurt another. In fact, we would have little problem living the law of loving your neighbor as yourself. If we really want to see change in the world, we have to start with ourselves.

If we are to really love others, we must know unconditional love of ourselves. It can be very challenging to love ourselves when we depend upon external factors. People will love me if I'm thin, smart, successful, a top athlete, a famous musician, etc., etc., etc. Too often we try to fill our hearts with love from other people - but it's almost always a conditional love. They will only love me if... And we all know what happens if they take their (conditional) love away - it hurts like no other and invites in a huge sense of rejection and unworthiness. Instead of searching out people to love us, we have to fill our hearts with a deep love for ourselves - otherwise, we're just inviting in suffering.

It can actually be a huge challenge to really love ourselves. We have to love and accept our flaws. We have to break down our heart walls. We have to be gentle with ourselves and really treasure who we are. We have to remember that we come from love and that is our true nature. Are you able to look yourself in the eyes, in a mirror, and say out loud, "I love you (insert your name here)?" Are you able to actually feel a deep love for yourself? Do you feel a strong sense of connection with your heart? If any of the answers are no, then you have work to do. Egoic love is not what we're shooting for. We're looking to reconnect to the essence of unconditional love - a love Jesus embodied. A love available to all of us.

We are all branches of the same tree. What we do to another is ultimately what we do to ourselves. Learn to love yourself and do your best to open your heart and love others - ALL others. Do the necessary work to remove the blocks and obstacles that keep you from that unconditional love of self. For when we can truly love ourselves, it will become second nature to also love our neighbors.

With, in, from LOVE - Adrienne :)