So I know I already said a thing or two about love, but I think it’s worth bringing back up. There are many different types of love. There is the love between you and your friends, the love between you and your family, the love between you and your partner (if you have one), the love between you and yourself, and the love between you and the universe. Though really, they are all the same thing (since you are the universe).

Sometimes, when you love someone or something in a very special and profound way, that love is unconditional. People throw that term around a lot — but I’d venture to say that few people mean it. Parents often say that they love their children unconditionally. But the number of homeless gay youth, for example, is staggering. That sort of love is clearly conditional–the condition being sexual orientation. But my point isn’t to illustrate the lack of love in the world.
Anyway, you can make a decision to love someone or something unconditionally. When you make that decision, to love someone totally and completely, something very beautiful happens. You accept that person for all that they are (and aren’t). In other words, you don’t try to change that person. At times that person may make choices that you wouldn’t make, but you don’t judge them as right or wrong. You simply accept that moment, and accept that other person exactly as they are. I see a lot of people who have “cafeteria” love for their partners. That is to say, there are some things that they really love about their partner, and some things that they really hate, or at least wish that they could change. The thing is, all those aspects make up that unique person. You can’t love just a part of your partner, you must love him or her as a whole — that is, without conditions.

Naturally, unconditional love shouldn’t be saved for just boyfriends, girlfriends, husbands, or wives. In fact, applying unconditional love to the entire universe is a very beautiful concept. When you love and accept all parts of the universe, you stop struggling against the moment. It takes an incredible amount of energy to struggle against the moment, and in the end, you are only struggling against yourself. When you love the world unconditionally, you stop seeing the illusion of duality.

So, I am making a decision right now. I will love the universe unconditionally–because I love and accept myself, totally and completely, and I recognize that the distance between me and the world “around” me is, of course, zero.