Love is not a commodity to be bartered, for it is priceless and cannot be bought. I understand where you are coming from, but I have to disagree on this point.
Love is a concept. The involuntary physical reaction stems from the value we placed on the thing loved. The value we attached comes from something we either observe, imagine or impute.
When we actually see something in somebody to admire we experience the feeling of admiration. But, if we merely impute admiration indiscriminately we devalue our standards. Think of the people who admire gangstas, criminals, empty-headed celebrities. The admiration is felt even though the standard of admiration (their values) come from the bar being set so low in the first place.
In other words, our values are well-informed at best and ill-informed at worst. But, either way; our values have to connect WITH SOME REALITY to have any legal tender.
Love doesn't float in the air like pollen, you know! We create our own emotions by how we have informed our own values. How do we inform our values? Only two ways: 1.Actively, by analysis and the use of a personal standard, or 2. Passively, by absorbing the opinions of others without critical analysis.
If we are raised in a household where the mom is beaten by the dad the value of "love" is informed by that behavior. The standard of what "love is" becomes the trigger for thinking about the kind of treatment one accepts while still feeling "love" inside.
You see what I am saying? The LOVE I'm talking about is an actuality based on cues and information and experience as well as one's enviornment.
Some people "love" liver and onions or hot peppers. Their evaluation is based on their culture and experience and the standards of cuisine they grew up with. They actually feel that "love" connected to their craving and appetite as a result.
So too with any other kind of love.
Love is a result. It is the result of a value. The value is based on a perception. The perception is informed by experience or by hearsay and custom. (Depending on whether you take charge of your own thinking or let others programme it for you.)
The love you are speaking about has been indoctrinated into you. It is imaginary. It has no actual standard measured by a reality. it "just is" like Santa Claus.
When we change our way of measuring reality our values change accordingly. We better inform our own tastes in this way. How else can people break bad habits when formerly they "loved" cigarettes or an unhealthy lifestyle?
The more we know and the more we clearly examine the actual source of our values the better able are we to experience "accurate" emotions. We no longer just fall passively into a thrall from some magical feeling that comes seemingly out of nowhere.
You see?
UNconditional love says "There are no conditions which make this person (or thing) worthy of admiration and good will on my part--BUT--I'm going to act as though they are admirable and beneficial to give my attention to anyway."
Ludicrous, no? We have a choice of spending our time on worthwhile and healthy things or wasting our time on trivial pursuits that drag us down---AND WE ACT LIKE THERE IS NO DIFFERENCE??? Come on, now; really!
Do you really treat bad things, disgusting people, harmful activities THE SAME as you do the very best life has to offer?
That is what UNconditional says you must do.
In the context of God, the bible and the purest love according to religion. Can you say God places NO CONDITIONS whatsoever on whom he will accept and those whom he rejects? Of course not!
God has the highest standards of all. Ask yourself why?
A god without standards is a god who doesn't recognize the reality of Good or Evil and treats them both THE SAME!
UNconditional love would require that behavior.
Think about the consequences of this belief you have about UN conditional love. It is not sensible, it is illogical and it just doesn't work for anybody.
The clinics are filled with people who tried to exercise unconditional love and who pay the consequence.
