We start making every child ambitious, and ambition means you cannot love; ambition is anti-love. Ambition needs fight, ambition needs struggle, ambition needs you to use others as a means.
RajneeshRead
Love is born in sexuality but sexuality is not love. The lotus is born in the mud, but the lotus is not just mud. And if mud remains mud of course there are bound to be tears on the cheeks.
Interpretation
What this quote means
This quote highlights the distinction between love and mere physical attraction, suggesting that true love transcends sexuality.
Rajneesh emphasizes that while sexuality may give rise to love, it is not the entirety of love itself. He uses the metaphor of the lotus, which grows from mud but is not defined by it, indicating that love must evolve beyond its foundational physical aspects to achieve its true beauty and depth. If one remains solely in the realm of physicality, sadness and tears are inevitable, as they miss out on the higher essence of love.
Themes
LoveSexualityLotusMudRelationshipsDistinction
In practice
Example use cases
Using this quote in a discussion about the nature of love and relationships.
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Love is not a relationship, love is a state of being; it has nothing to do with anybody else. One is not "in love", one is love. And of course when one is love, one is in love β but that is an outcome, a by-product, that is not the source. The source is that one is love.
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