"All you need is love.” “Love is the answer.” We all know this.
We have a holiday to celebrate love with red hearts and chocolate.
We write songs and poems about love.
We want to find love.
But do we ever really talk about it?
Robert Holden addresses the topic of love in Loveability,Knowing How to Love and Be Loved.
This is not a book about finding a romantic partner or about fixing your romantic relationship.
This book is about the most powerful healing force in the universe, which we neglect to discuss or incorporate in academia.
You might be asking, “How could we have a class about love? Such a thing doesn’t make sense.” My reply to you is another question: Is love less important than learning how to solve quadratic equations? “There were no lectures on love when I studied psychology,” Holden says. “No one addressed love directly, not even Carl Jung, who wrote about everything. It was as if we had forgotten that love existed, or maybe we were avoiding it.”
Many people are afraid of love, and grew up in homes in which the words “I love you” were never spoken.
The road to understanding love is the same road to self-actualization, because by definition, God is love and love is God. So, as you grow spiritually, you will become in closer contact to the true meaning of love.
Holden structured Loveability in five main sections:
In part one, Holden explains how love is our destiny because we are all connected to one Source. Love is our shared purpose as human beings.
In part two, Holden tells us that love is who we are, and that only by loving ourselves, we can extend love to others. Holden’s view perfectly matches Dr.Wayne Dyer’s analogy of squeezing an orange and getting orange juice because that’s all there is inside. If there is love inside of you, no matter who squeezes you, love will be what comes out. Anita Moorjani, who released her own book after her near-death experience, also brings the message of self-love and self-acceptance to be truly happy.
In part three, we learn about unconditional love. Holden writes, “The basic truth is that you are loved and wholly loveable. This basic truth is the memory of your wholeness. It is the awareness of your Unconditioned Self. It is the Original Blessing. It is your eternal loveliness.” This section of the book was especially interesting to me, because it clearly defines the difference between human love and divine love. Love is not an act, or a bargain, or idolatry. Love is not something you feel for a few selected people. Love is not lust or infatuation. Love is spiritual desire. I believe such a high percentage of marriages fail because couples don’t understand the true meaning of love. When the lust and infatuation fade, people “fall out of love.” Truth is, they might’ve never loved in the first place.
In part four, we explore the polarities of love and fear, and how fear simply cannot exist where there is love. Using “The Mirror Principle,” Holden explains how what we bring into a relationship (whether romantic or not) is what we experience, and how when we think something is missing in a relationship, it’s probably us.
Finally, in part five, titled: “Love is the Answer,” Holden calls for healing and forgiveness so we can allow love back into our lives. Have you thought about the fact that when you remain attached to past hurts you are not able to love yourself? This happens because resentments, which are a form of fear, are obstacles to love. If you are wasting your present moments being angry and sad, you are hurting yourself.
I truly enjoyed reading this book, and recommend it to all of you who need a catalyst to release the knowledge that is already within your souls.
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