Welcome to this bonus challenge,
True Love.
Let's begin by taking a few moments to come back to yourself.
Follow your own breath and let your mind come to rest in its own pace.
Feel each breath,
Air coming in and air going out.
Feel each breath,
Air coming in and air going out.
Feel each breath,
Air coming in and air going out.
For a long time in my life I lived like a machine,
Performing tasks,
Completing goals,
Without feeling anything except stress and anxiety.
Then one day I found a word in a book.
The word was altruism.
It means to care for all living beings,
To help each other.
The opposite of egoism,
To only care for yourself.
When I read this word I started crying.
At first I didn't understand why,
Until I remembered.
Altruism was how I thought life should be when I was young.
As a kid I couldn't understand why people were arguing,
Fighting or even making wars.
We should just take care of each other,
Right?
But throughout school I somehow forgot this.
I forgot the true meaning of love.
In the western culture we are often taught that love is romance,
An attraction between people.
I love her,
I can't live without her.
I love him so much,
Of all my heart.
And we also have this other really weird way of loving things.
I love fish so much,
I eat it every day.
I love my new car,
It's so fast and looks so beautiful.
But is that really love?
If you love fish,
Why would you want to kill them?
And would you still love your new car even though you were forced to sell it and see someone else driving it?
Real love is not the feeling we feel because we are getting some taste or owning some object.
Real love is a different type of love,
A love that underlies all other.
All cultures on earth have expressions for this type of love.
It's called Munai,
In Keswa,
The language of the Andean cultures,
Which means something like universal love.
It's called metta bhavanain,
Buddhism,
To love everyone unconditionally and wish for their happiness.
The ancient Greeks call it agape,
The same love Jesus spoke about when he said,
Love your neighbor as yourself.
We weren't supposed to fall in love with them,
Be attracted to them,
But to love them as in wishing them well.
And who is your neighbor,
If not all beings on earth?
We can go all around the world and find this love in all cultures with different labels and variations.
In Australia,
This love is called kainini,
Unconditional love to all that has been and that will be,
And a deep sense of responsibility to care for all.
Because what is our love without responsibility?
To bring this love into your life is one of the greatest challenges and also the greatest gift you can get and give.
To love someone not because you want them to be in a certain way,
Only to love them because you want them to feel well,
To be happy,
To be at peace.
And likewise,
To love yourself in this way because you are a part of the earth as well.
We can only love our neighbor when we have learned to love ourself.
Altruism isn't to sacrifice yourself for the sake of others,
It is to love all equally,
Yourself included.
This love is like a flower or a star that starts within yourself and radiates out.
My invitation for you is to keep growing this love to yourself every day and experience how it keeps growing to include all around you,
Your family,
Your friends,
Your neighbors,
Even your enemies.
When we send this love to someone,
This wish for them to be happy,
When we feel it in our hearts,
We are helping them at an invisible,
Undetectable level.
And if we start doing this to the politicians we hate,
To the criminals we despise,
The whole world will begin to change.
First,
We feel the change in ourselves.
Imagine how you would feel if the whole world would send its love to you.
If you knew that the trees around you,
All the people,
Animals,
Bird songs,
Were wishing you happiness and peace.
Imagine what would happen with those who do evil deeds when they begin to feel that they are loved again,
That the whole world is looking out for them.
I think all violence would cease instantly,
Because deep down no one wants to harm anyone.
We all just want to be this love,
This true love,
To experience it,
Receive it,
And to pass it on.
This is the greatest gift we can ever give someone,
Our unconditional love.
