Epigraph:
And those who say, ‘Our Lord, grant us of our wives and children the delight of our eyes, and make us a model for the righteous. It is such as will be rewarded a high place in Paradise because they were steadfast, and they will be received therein with greeting and peace. (Al Quran 25:75-76)
Those who believe and do good deeds — the Gracious God will create love in their hearts. (Al Quran 19:97)
Source: The Guardian
By Mark Vernon
God may be love to spiritual souls, but scientific theories of the most powerful human sentiment also show it makes life richer.
Religious and spiritual sorts tend to bang on about love. God is love, some say. Practice the art of loving-kindness, others commend. And I’ve found it hard to know what sense to make of these sentiments. They can so easily lose weight and meaning in a thousand repetitions. Then there is the claim that love reveals and is the fundamental truth of reality. What can be made of that in a scientific age?
Then, I started to read up on developmental psychology. It seems to me that the modern science illuminates the older, religious claims.
Psychologists and psychotherapists as diverse as Jean Piaget and Sigmund Freud, John Bowlby and Donald Winnicott seem to say that we learn about love in roughly three stages. Our first love is narcissistic – not an entirely pleasant thought, though behaving as if we were the only creature of importance in the world is necessary for our early survival. Freud talked of His Majesty the Baby.
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At each transition – from one to two, from two to the triangular space – the individual realises that love was already there waiting for him or her. Narcissistic self-absorption relaxes with the realisation that I am held in the love of another. Lovers move from falling in love to standing in love, to recall Erich Fromm’s phrase.
The life of faith detects that there is a fourth dimension to add to this third, a divine love that is there waiting. It holds all because it is the source of the love that flows through all. Fear and uncertainty do not cease. Human love always feels a bit like that. But faith is the felt sense that love can be trusted because love is, in truth, the ground of reality.
I am so grateful to Falak Rahman for posting this article written by Mark Vernon. Love is so important in every area of human life, and this fits in with the motto “Love for all and hatred for none.”
Almost two thousand years ago, a religious leader asked Jesus the Messiah, “Teacher, which is the greatest commandment in the Law?” Jesus replied, “Love the Lord your God with all your heart and with all your soul and with all your mind. This is the first and greatest commandment. And the second is like it, “Love your neighbour as yourself.” All the law and the Prophets hang on these two commandments.” (Matt 22:37 – 40)
In modern times there are some religious people who claim to love God but are cruel towards fellow men. On the other extreme there are humanists who try to help people around them, but claim not to believe in the Great Creator. As we grow in our knowledge and love of God then we gain power and motivation to love our relatives and neighbours.
On the night before he died Jesus spoke to his followers, “My commandment is this: Love each other as I have loved you. Greater love has no one than this, that he lay down his life for his friends.” (John 15:12-13) The sacrificial love of Jesus the Messiah and these first followers have been a dynamic example for thousands of believers over twenty centuries in all countries across the world.