by Carissa Baston

Created on: March 12, 2009

I don't believe God has love. I believe God is love or equals love. Love is the language that is understood by almost all religions. Love is the common denominator. All these different religions have names for their dieties-names other than "God". I believe the names Buddha, Krishna, God all represent the amazing power of love. It is part of a human's design to want to figure out how and why something works. Why do I feel lighter when I am kind? Why do I feel burdened when I am cruel? We want to assign reasons and meaning to our experiences. The oldest form of teaching the lessons we learn to our children is through story telling. Throughout human history story telling has been instrumental in maintaining heritage, pride and connection. Ah! There's the word. Connection. Humans are designed to desire a connection with the world in which we live. So stories are passed along generation to generation telling of the moments we felt connected to another person, our family, our community, our world and even beyond. But how do you explain feeling connected to something as large as our universe? Something that seemingly has no way to connect to you? We personify it. We name it. We build stories around it until this vast unknown becomes someone we can bring down to where we are...into our realm of understanding.

I was raised in the Christian church. I was overwhelmed by the utter impossibility of being "good". I thought forcing religion on someone was better for them in the long run. I wanted people to go to heaven. I wanted to go to heaven. I was taught that we were right and "they" were wrong. I learned to be judgemental in church. I judged myself most harshly. As I stumbled through my twenties, I just didn't feel like this was the way I wanted to live. Thinking I didn't want to live the "Christian" life, made me judge myself even more. This is no way to live, I thought. So I decided to be "bad". I couldn't be good enough,so why try?

When I had my daughter I finally began to see that the two ways I had tried living both lacked love. Love is the only thing in existance that is flawless. True agape love. In anything I do, any way I behave, any way I treat another human being I can ask myself, "is this love?" Maybe I hate my job and I whine and moan about it at home. Am I showing love to the family I support by going to that job? I can ask myself that same question when I feel like spending more money than I have. Giving your child everything material they want may seem great. But is it love? Will they learn about love if I do that? Getting enraged by a bad driver on the road really affects no one but myself. Am I loving myself by doing that?

Love is a verb. It is active behaviors or non-behaviors. It can be words spoken or words kept to one's self. Love is a noun. Sitting with family on Christmas morning (or any old time) and enjoying it is love. Love is an adjective. The word love describes beauty, intelligence, joy, hope, peace. Love is an entity. There is a higher power from which all love is frought. We can name it whatever we like, but it is still love.

I find it impossible to believe that our world was created by happenstance. I believe it (and we) were designed intelligently. Intelligence is love. Love is the beginning and the end. Love transcends all languages, races, creeds and religions. Love made us and we have the unique power to allow it to flow through us in every single little seemingly insignificant thing we do.

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