Monday, May 6, 2013

unconditional love

Elsewhere, there was an Internet bulletin board conversation going on about conditional and unconditional love and I wrote:
Maybe it would be better to stop daydreaming about what is "unconditioned" and just cope effectively with what we've got.
"Unconditioned" -- how seductive.

And yet, in spiritual endeavor, it seems to me that just because someone classifies himself or others as "ignorant" or "deluded," that's no excuse for being a dope.

Consider: When talking or thinking about something that is "unconditioned,"  how could anyone be doing something other than "conditioning" what was being addressed?

Does this compute?

Does this make sense?

In what way is it useful?

To me it sounds dumber than an unconditional box of rocks ... sexy, perhaps, but stupid.

2 comments:

  1. I've always appreciated Spinoza's definition of love as "joy with the accompanying idea of an external cause."

    That does not mean I need to be "conditioned" to love others. It means that there is cause to love them. By what they say or do, by some external cause or reason, they give rise to my own joy and happiness.

    What's wrong with that? I would rather know why someone loves me in particular than be the recipient of the universal out-flowing of someone's unconditional love!

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  2. Acceptance of delusion is just me trying not to be surprised when i'm wrong, and trying to be grateful anyway.

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