the will to love

it's amazing to think we're already one month into 2007.

i was making groundhogs with the kids the other day and wondering about whether or not a shadow will be seen - i am very much enjoying the snow and winter right now, with people skating on the pond across the street and cross-country skiing conditions so good i wouldn't mind if it stuck around.

anyway, i just finished reading all about love: new visions by bell hooks, and wanted to post some of what she shares with the reader. i really feel as if i have gone on a journey reading this book - a journey that has enriched my soul.

here are some selections from the book.

"it is possible to speak with our heart directly. most ancient cultures know this. we can actually converse with our heart as if it were a good friend. in modern life we have become so busy with our daily affairs and thoughts that we have lost this essential art of taking time to converse with our heart." (from Jack Kornfield's A Path with Heart)

hooks writes of moving from silence about love to voicing our love - of being ever conscious about how we share love - of being able to surrender and trust love - of working towards a commonly accepted definition of love and why this is so important...

she quotes from M. Scott Peck's book The Road Less Traveled, a definition of love as "the will to extend one's self for the purpose of nurturing one's own or another's spiritual growth...love is as love does. love is an act of will-namely, both an intention and an action. will also implies choice. we do not have to love. we chose to love."

this is simply a starting point - i am moving towards sharing this book with my loved ones and will likely have more to say - so if this awakens your curiosity in any way i highly recommend borrowing it from the library and opening to its gifts.