Cultivate Love

Desire is the cause of all the suffering all human beings experience in their lifetimes.  I define desire as the craving for something you lack.  It's a hole that aches to be filled and satiated.

 

It’s so hard to suppress desire.  It’s easier to cultivate love.  Most importantly love for yourself.  Love yourself unconditionally; the way you love other people unconditionally (your Mom, Dad, siblings, best friends, lovers).  When you can love yourself unconditionally, you are best equipped to love other beings.  Why?  Because if you can love yourself unconditionally, then you'll know what unconditional love feels like, and you'll know how to dispense it to a being, in this case the being is yourself.  If you can learn those things, you'll be able to love yourself.  And once you love yourself, you'll be better equipped to love others.

 

Don't get me wrong.  Self-love can be incredibly difficult.  Especially if your parents treated you in such a way when you were a child that you didn't feel loved by them.  If they, your parents, the beings that you perceived as all powerful Gods didn't love you, then how could you love yourself?  Gods are all powerful and all loving.  If an all powerful, all loving being can not love you, then you must be truly unlovable.  And if you feel unlovable, you feel worthless.  And when you feel worthless, it's hard to love yourself.  In those circumstances, your best bet is to first try loving other beings unconditionally.  As you learn to love other beings unconditionally, you'll learn what unconditional love feels like, and you'll know how to dispense it to a being,  Then you can turn the target of your love from other beings and to yourself.  Put yourself in the crosshairs of your love gun for a change.  And yes, that totally sounds sexual and from a Spinal Tap song.