Dialogue from the movie ‘Closer’:
Dan: I love you!
Alice: Where?!
Dan: What?!
Alice: Show me! Where is this love? I… I can’t see it, I can’t touch it. I can’t feel it.
I can hear it. I can hear some words, but I can’t do anything with your easy words…
Where and what is love when it is not expressed, when it is not sensed? Is it nowhere? If so, is this love not conditional, arising only when there are certain conditions? There is, however, a form of love that we can cultivate, that can always be expressed by us, in thought, word and deed, that can always be sensed by others. It is Loving-kindness (Metta) – which we can abide in, which we can suffuse the world with – even without saying a word, without raising a gesture. The truer the love, the more it embraces, more of the time, with less conditions. It is that which really draws people… closer… not just physically, but in the heart too. The Buddha’s radiant presence is the best example!