When you hear that you are supposed to love everyone, no matter what – that universal love is the reason we are here – it is a feel good idea but often misinterpreted. It also can be very difficult to do without considerable attention to the way you live your own life; It is difficult unless you inspect your own character. The concept of one love only works when it comes from a place of honesty and sincerity, and completely feeling the plight of all humanity.
Universal love, or one love, is rooted in RESPECT. If you do not understand where a person is coming from (their feelings, their sadness, hardships, oppression, or their reality) then you are not practicing the concept of spiritual love.
One love is about putting aside judgements and labels and truly understanding that within each of us, there is a core of love which is our life-force, our energy. You came here with it, and you’re going to go home with it. It is the realization that God (by whatever name you call Him) lives within each of us.
It’s having the courage to stand for another. One love is about having charitable thoughts and actions. It is about doing these things even for those who are different from you, those who have wronged you, and even for those who you have deemed unworthy in the past.
Living a life through the concept of universal love, which is through spirit, means redefining yourself as well as others. In other words, you are not promoting universal love, (you are not nourishing your spiritual side) if you do not respect the right of existence of all people. Even the ones that completely different from you. This goes for every facet of society including gender, class, religion, race, political, color, etc.
Most of us need to complete some character work to achieve the commitment to the universal love concept simply because we are human and from the time we are born we are taught that we are different rather than the same. Universal love is part of our spiritual journey. It is a process that needs constant reinforcement and practice.
Loving everyone is through spirit, soul. It’s not about agreeing with everything they do, it’s about respecting that they are life and having love in your heart for them for the simple fact that they, like you, are a child of the Divine.
It’s a learning experience practiced through compassion, forgiveness, gratitude, and understanding.
Sheila Burke is an inspirational and spiritual author, the founder Happiness Hunting with Sheila, and the online communities of Irie and Zensational Living. Her books include Chorus of Souls (Jan. 2014), Booyah! Spirit, and Zensational Living and can be found in paperback and kindle on Amazon.
