by Adeolu Adewoye
Published on: Aug 22, 2005
Topic:
Type: Opinions

Can Love be measured?

‘’ Love is a mental reality and not sensible; for this reality the ear does not hear, the eye does not see, the smell does not perceive, the taste does not discern, the touch does not feel.” Abdu'l-Baha, *

There is no other often-misused word as love. The reason for this cannot be far from the fact that the attribute of love as being a spiritual quality rather than the physical quality is more often is used. This word is a quality of the Creator, which is being reflected in all His creations. It is no wonder that one’s understanding of love is relative and that it changes as one tends to be more acquainted with his surroundings and creatures therein. ‘’Journey ye on, in the land, and behold how the creation appeared” was one of the divine counsels revealed through His Prophet Muhammad.

For a toddler, the world of love is limited to the immediate family, expands in its scope with neighbours and friends, as he/she gets more involved in outside the family culture. These involvements to me, are a major part of life and require the expression of love.

Let us ponder a while on ``how love is being expressed `` and see if it can provides an insight to how it can be measured. According to the Evangel the history of creation, shows the effort and time that God gave to creation and the extent of which he had to rest on the seventh day of creation. For us, so complex and incomprehensible the world of his creation, that demands a rest from daily activities once in a while. After the Universe and everything therein were created we were told, “God saw everything that He had made and behold it was very good”. The point I am trying to put across here is that, He hath created us in His own image and after his likeness why then did we see imperfection in His creatures? Until we learn how to live and preserved the Universe, expression of love might not be a reality. When we see others and relate with them in a similar way we preferred to be treated. According to one Arabian poem’s “Live free of love, its very peace is anguish; its beginning is pain, its end is death”.

The most enamored definition of love I have ever came across defines love as “a deep, tender, ineffable feeling of affection and solicitude toward a person, such as that arising from kinship, recognition of attractive qualities, or a sense of underlying oneness.” How wonderful to think of love in relation to oneness! It is an underlying principle for the betterment of the earth; conducive for the expression of love and an indicator of love.

Having an eye that sees all creatures in the light of the almighty perfection, takes love to a higher realm far beyond the materialistic and selfish desire so characterized the word love in our current society. A reflection on how the purpose of being created unveils nothing but God’s love; with neither an expectation of benefit nor reward. Consider how He overlooks our shortcomings, evil inclinations and in return shower blessings upon us. This never ceasing love of God makes me feel that it is more of something divinity and is immeasurable. Characterized by the expression in the forms of sensible things and perhaps physical. For instance, one smiles or laughs to show happiness, embracement of one and another to show affection, and many other examples.
Expression of love in this form, often has lead its being designated as a material quality, which largely depends on physical things such as money, appearance. But the real love is divine in origin and immeasurable. Let us see love beyond its material expression.
* Abdul-Baha the eldest son of Baha`u`llah founder of The Bahai Faith.










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