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.
Today I believe in the possibility of love; that is why I endeavor to trace its imperfections, its perversions.
Anne hoped she had outlived the age of blushing; but the age of emotion she certainly had not.
I once asked a bird, how is it that you fly in this gravity of darkness? She responded, 'love lifts me.'
We see his smile of love even when others see nothing but the black hand of death smiting our best beloved.
Your hand is cold, mine burns like fire. How blind you are, Nastenka!
We think love is noble, and in some ways, it is. But in some ways, it isn't. Love is just love. And sometimes people do terrible things because of it.
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