Never pretend to a love which you do not actually feel, for love is not ours to command.
Interpretation
Authentic love cannot be faked, as it is not something we can control at will.
This quote emphasizes the importance of genuine emotions in relationships. Alan Watts suggests that pretending to love someone when you do not truly feel that way is disingenuous and can lead to more harm than good. Love is a natural feeling that arises spontaneously, and attempting to feign it undermines its true essence and can ultimately damage both individuals involved.
In practice
During a discussion about relationships, sharing this quote can emphasize the value of honesty in love.
Jesus Christ knew he was God. So wake up and find out eventually who you really are. In our culture, of course, they’ll say you’re crazy and you’re blasphemous, and they’ll either put you in jail or in a nut house (which is pretty much the same thing). However if you wake up in India and tell your friends and relations, ‘My goodness, I’ve just discovered that I’m God,’ they’ll laugh and say, ‘Oh, congratulations, at last you found out.
What we see as death, empty space, or nothingness is only the trough between the crests of this endlessly waving ocean. It is all part of the illusion that there should seem to be something to be gained in the future, and that there is an urgent necessity to go on and on until we get it. Yet just as there is no time but the present, and no one except the all-and-everything, there is never anything to be gained - though the zest of the game is to pretend that there is.
There is only this now. It does not come from anywhere; it is not going anywhere. It is not permanent, but it is not impermanent. Though moving, it is always still. When we try to catch it, it seems to run away, and yet it is always here and there is no escape from it. And when we turn around to find the self which knows this moment, we find that it has vanished like the past.
Many people never grow up. They stay all their lives with a passionate need for external authority and guidance, pretending not to trust their own judgment.
There are two specific objections to use of psychedelic drugs.First,use of these drugs may be dangerous.Howev er,every worth-while exploration is dangerous-climb ing mountains,testi ng aircraft,rocket ing into outer space,or collecting botanical specimens in jungles.But if you value knowledge & the actual delight of exploration more than mere duration of uneventful life,you are willing to take the risks.
The Godhead is never an object of its own knowledge. Just as a knife doesn't cut itself, fire doesn't burn itself, light doesn't illuminate itself. It's always an endless mystery to itself.
Oh, to love what is lovely, and will not last!_x000D_ What a task_x000D_ to ask_x000D_ of anything, or anyone,_x000D_ yet it is ours,_x000D_ and not by the century or the year, but by the hours.
Now the fair goddess, Fortune,_x000D_ _x000D_ Fall deep in love with thee, and her great charms_x000D_ _x000D_ Misguide thy opposers' swords!
It was nice - in the dark and the quiet... and her eyes looking back, like there was something in me worth seeing.
'Tis better to have loved and lost than never to have loved at all.
Perhaps we are in this world to search for love, find it and lose it, again and again. With each love, we are born anew, and with each love that ends we collect a new wound. I am covered with proud scars.
The French verb aimer has two meanings. And that’s why he liked her, and loved her. She spoke to him in a language that, no matter how hard you studied it, could not be completely understood.
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