Most of us believe that we love at least one other human being, but who can state that their love extends to all of life — all human beings, and all conscious creations? Is this even possible? God offers us unconditional love and also asks us to love one another, but in the modern world this just doesn't seem pragmatic, it just doesn't appear to make a lot of sense.

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Perhaps most representative of love is knowledge, when we love someone we know them on a level that cannot be explained or quantified. But further, it is never possible for love to ever remain just 1-sided. Each of us is ever reflecting back a part of ourselves in those people that we feel closest to.

It seems to me that the ultimate source of consciousness, or God, is ever reflecting a part of itself in each one of us. Even though we might feel distant from those we don't seem to know or have a connection with at all, we are all interconnected on some level nonetheless. Each of us can recognize a part of ourselves in another person no matter who that person is.

It is this recognition that we are all one consciousness on some level that is love. Is love defined with a specific set of actions, a special bond two people share, or is it also a state of being? Is being self-aware and living through consciousness the same as living through love?

Love is something we seldom just feel, it is something we are. Getting upset or even feeling hatred towards someone does not cancel out the state of loving that person. Emotions are fleeting, but love is not an emotion, it is something different altogether.

It is possible to walk around with the attitude "I hate the world, I hate all the people in it" - but how much of this is an attitude that is being maintained with a constant, tiring, draining sense of motivation? The same can be said for a cloud of sadness or fear that can take over our lives. But love is different. It heals. It is not tiring or draining to be in a state of love.

In fact, it is the single state that each of us thrives in.

Does Love Need to Be Earned?

If that which we call "love" involves an investment of our time, resources, and commitment, then of course it's something that others should earn before we give it to them. But the state of love itself does not make those demands on us.

1. It does not expect something in return.
2. It does not judge.
3. It does not take up our time.
4. It does not cost us.
5. It does not consume, it liberates.

This is the love that we can offer ourselves and others without losing something. In fact, we gain something as a result of doing so. Some believe that offering this unconditional love is a loss of power, but instead it is a gain of power - the power of a deeper sense of trust.

The original love that we receive from God allows us to never fear being judged for being who we are. However each of us also has the power to offer others unconditional love so that those around us never feel judged for being themselves. It is when we offer them something less that hatred, grudges and sceptisism begin to cloud that original state of love.

To offer love to others we do not even need to follow a specific routine or set of actions - in fact all we need to do is to become conscious of our own true nature and the true being that can be found in others. Once we have that deep seated sense of awareness then even where we do become upset with others and hold grudges we remember that those states are just temporal and fleeting.

The original state of love - the embodiment of love itself, is the state of being that transcends all emotional states that come and go.