The only way to cope with the complexity of human relationships, is to learn to love: to learn that love is the unifying force in every human relationship, whether it is relationship with those closest to us, those who have hurt us and may be unrepentant about the way they hurt us, or the way we relate to humanity at large – to the bum in the street or to the suffering we see on our television screens. It is the same love that relates us to all of those relationships. The only way to deal with the complexity of human relationships, which are so complex, is the simplicity of love; in love where we do not judge, where we do not compete, but where we accept, where we revere, and where we learn compassion. And so, in learning to love others, we release the inner joy of being, the joy of being that radiates outwards through us, through our relationships, touching others through our relationships. That is why communities and families and marriages don’t exist only for the perfection of the people in those immediate relationships. They exist also to radiate outwards the love of the family, the love of the parents, the love of the members of the community, beyond themselves; radiating that joy, that simplicity of love outwards beyond themselves, to touch all those who come into contact with it.
(Aspects of Love 2 by Laurence Freeman OSB )
