Love is kindness is nice

 

It's really simple

And it really needs to be said.

You feel it deep down.  You know it.

And yet, sometimes its the hardest thing to just say.

It's everyone's favorite four-letter word...

That's right; you guessed it;  L-O-V-E

 

I'm going to take a cue from Belle & Sebastian, and "write about love" …

Immediately, I get nervous and small - what right do I have?  To right the wrongs made by iniquity, injustice, conformity or just plain old apathy.  I am confronted with ideas of hallowed mysteries – like a wrapped gift that’s earmarked for opening on a future holiday that doesn’t exist yet.  So you put it on your mantle and allow your gaze to find it whenever you are feeling reverent.

But reverence is so obsequious.  (I had to look up the word.  But my brain told me it made sense!  It means eager to please or obey...  Right?!)  Reverence can be obsequious.  Most of us – most of ME – becomes flabbergasted and insecure when it comes time to speak from the heart … to the general public … about something that we don’t know whether we know or not until someone (maybe myself) tells us that we all agree with orrr… if not agree with, at least resonate with, are provoked and evoked in various immeasurable emotions of personal and public import.

“What is he talking about?  He’s using heavy words to do light lifting.  Wasn’t he going to talk about L-O-V-E …?”

Gosh.  Well.  What about “freedom”.  It means two very different things: the freedom FROM oppression, conformity ... or the freedom TO follow your dreams, do what you love, be your unique perfect self.

I like Freedom.  And I like LOVE.  Annnnd… I don’t really want to offend the gods of such a pristine order of idealism.  It makes me nervous and small just thinking about it.  Sometimes when I’m nervous and small, I become long-winded.  I’m trying to approach with calm, respect, sophistication? gentle-ness. 

Anyways I have this big idea.  But I think it’s not that complicated.  I want to break it down into a number of simple ideas for yours-and-my benefit.  Please?  If you indulge me, I think it could take some of these ideas to a new and beautiful place.  If nothing else, it is a nice journey to get there, and I think it will ultimately have been worth the time.  It’s one of the reasons I exist.  If you please.

So this thing called love, it’s actually the reason we all exist.  Don’t let some obscure scientists tell you the reason we exist is competition, survival, and biological imperatives to reproduce.  That’s just a prehistorical approximation of what love is, what it has always been, and what it CAN BE.

Someone along the way told me that love = kindness.  To take it back to basics.  Wayyy back ~ ~ ~ My favorite word as a lil kid was “cool.”  (blushing…cringing) I was very “cool” and everything was “cool” “if that’s cool with you” etc etc ……. And then later on some friends kinda told me - there’s a new word at the schoolyard.  And that word is “nice.”  Like this: “hey guess what aaron, the new word is: nice” and then I respond “ n i c e e e …”

But what does all of this mean?  What is the purpose of life according to major religious dogma or just common sense about everyday living.  Allah, Buddha, Jesus & Krishna said this: “be nice to each other.”  Hahahaha YES!  Somehow this is exciting and fun, and less nerve-wracking than to write about love.  Love is good, love is kind, and for all practical purposes, love is life… so let’s just say, life is about kindness, for goodness sakes.

“But Aaron is that your big idea?  Everyone knows that already, so why even say it.”

Well first of all, no, just because we know already, that doesn’t diminish the value of expressing it.  Truth is good to be expressed in many forms.  It becomes familiar and nice, just like your home or your neighborhood are familiar and nice.  Yes, you’ve been there for a while now, but still you don’t get tired of it.  It gets better the more you know it.  So sez I.  But anyhow, that wasn’t the big idea.  The big idea is about being kind to each other… and (equally important) being kind to ourselves. 

I have something to say about that.  I hope that it becomes familiar and nice in a myriad of ways, because it is THAT BIG of an idea.  It has something to do with how we all are so-very-different, and yet it is still SO-NECESSARY that we all love each other… or at least be kind to one another.

…But we’re all so different!  Even when you become familiar with your friend, or coworker, or neighbor, or that person you don’t know but you recognize every time you see them passing on the street…

Unity consciousness says we should all get along.  That idea is as-of-yet too big for me.  (how does he even know how to say that?  What is he talking about?!) If you don’t get it, me neither.  In other words, you don’t have to love everyone.  You don’t even have to like everyone.  But (according to most universal wisdom systems) you have to be nice to everyone.  Apparently, if you are nice to someone, they will be much more inclined to be nice to you.

“This is the foundation of worldly wisdom we’ve all been waiting for!  This is a genius idea!!!”  Yeah but wait, we’re still all-so-different.  I mean sometimes it’s like we’re speaking entirely different languages!  A veces está un poco como hablamos lenguas diferentes.   ~*~ *~* & *~~!!

I could talk about this all day.  (if only I had some more complicated and unnecessary words like obsequious, garrulous, supercilious…) But too-much to my point, perhaps you-you-and-you would not want to listen.  So for the sake of this perfect fraction of everyone, I will try and wrap it up.

The source of all life is love.  And the destiny of its continuation is that also.  But that can be very difficult and thus mysterious for some of us human beings.  Hitherto and henceforth, we shall (who is with me?) make intentions and perform proto-impressions of these intentions… to be kind.

Nice.