Have a beautiful weekend. Let me share with you our prelude about the most important virtues of all. It is called Love. It is the 8th of our virtues journey. Let´s review where we stand:

• • Humbleness ↑ Ok.
  • Meekness and Peacemaking (kindness) ↑ Ok.
  • Mourning ↑ Ok (We have included here personal and genuine concern for others)
  • Hunger for Righteousness (justice) ↑Ok.
  • Mercy ↑Ok.
  • Courage under Suffering ↑Ok.
  • Purity of Heart ↑Ok.
  • Love ↑Ok.
  • Faith
  • Hope
  • Integrity (honesty, sincerity)

The virtue of love is the most prominent of all. But how can we learn to love? How can we learn to love each other? How can we demonstrate love to those who don´t love us? To those who are hurting us? To those who have been unkind? How can we love people who have destroyed our dreams? How can we love when we don´t know what is love?

Love characteristics are defined by one of the finest chapters in the Bible. 1st Corinthians 13,4-8: “Love is patient, love is kind. It does not envy, it does not boast, it is not proud. It is not rude, it is not self-seeking, it is not easily angered, it keeps no record of wrongs. Love does not delight in evil put rejoices with the truth. It always protects, always trust, always hopes, always perseveres. Love never fails”.

What is love in the context of this saga? What is the meaning of love? Is it a feeling of affection and solicitude toward a person or a group of people? Is love simply reduced to a feeling of intense attraction toward a person with whom one is disposed to make a pair? Is love only the most intense “emotional attachment” for someone, for a a pet or a treasured object? Can we love only to our partner? Or can we love at a fraternal level? Is love a synonym of devotion which implies affectionate dedication and selflessness? Or is love the same than fondness, which is a strong liking or something? Why do we differentiate love from like or adore? Why infatuation based on lust is not love? Should we begin to define that there are at least three levels of love as much as three levels of purity of heart: expressed at a fraternal level, at a community-society level, and at a romantic relationship level? Is love only a terrenal experience? Or is love a spiritual term of endearment? Does love implies selflessness or selfishness?

“Love is a canvas furnished by Nature and embroidered by the imagination” (Voltaire). Why do we believe that love has one perfect definition, if there are different levels of love, but a unique source from it? Let´s understand the source of love, before trying to define it. Who is the only one that can truly and perfectly give love regardless the “loved one who receives love”: God. The only extraordinary love producer is God (and his son Jesus-Christ or the Holy Spirit). This is the source of love, and that is why humans need desperately to find the fountain of love before trying to love anyone else. If we learn to find the fountain of pure love (for excellence), and we learn to feel loved by God, then and only then we can give that love at each specific level of our social interactions (Fraternal, Community-Society, Romantic Relationship).

Without understanding that there is a Spiritual Pure Source of Love coming from God, then we can´t love anyone, neither ourselves, and that is why we desperately need God in our lives. I know this truth is difficult to reason in our brain that is always trying to integrate emotions and reasoning, but we will understand it “petit a petit” on our next publication.

By knowing and comprehending that there is a pure source of love coming from God, the creator of planet Earth and our Universe, then and only then we are able to define love. If we are open to God, then we begin to living loved by God. And just then we begin to experience God´s love, then we can love others and ourselves. I will leave you today with a petit reflection assignment: can you write in a piece of paper, what is love for you? Then next week, you will be able to compare with our strategic definition of love, much needed in our business models and communities.

See you next week, with the continuation of the virtue of Love. Blessings, until then; thank you for reading to me.

Disclaimer: Illustrations in Watercolor are painted by Eleonora Escalante. Other types of illustrations or videos (which are not mine) are used for educational purposes ONLY.  Nevertheless, the majority of the pictures, images, or videos shown on this blog are not mine.  I do not own any of the lovely photos or images posted unless otherwise stated.

Published by eleonoraescalantestrategy

Corporate Strategy Artist, San Salvador, El Salvador View all posts by eleonoraescalantestrategy