Unconditional Love

By Bryan Ridgley

"Unconditional Love is like that between a mother and her child" is one of the most sentimentally beautiful quotes I have ever come across. It symbolizes such a special type of unconditional love. It seems that most people I have conferred with on this have picked this type of unconditional love as being the most official concept or picture of the highest expression of it. While it reminds me of some of the most personal experiences I regard as sentimental (in an antiquated sense), I am not a total believer that is the highest.

While I accept this type as special, this type as universally regarded, leaves out everyone else. Let's spend a moment and figure out if and how we may define, understand and express some higher ideals through other love types also entitled unconditional love. I am a believer in using reason to think. So, I will use a '3 fold' (3 fold model viewed on a triangle), and use the 'body, mind and spirit' as an analogy of understanding 3 planes, 3 ways or 3 truths. If I am suppose to love myself, love my brothers and love god... I better have a clear distinction about what love really is. I looked up the word love and there were 12 definitions. Everything from 'feeling tender about' or 'desiring someone' or 'something to having sex', 'worshipping god' or 'a score in sports'. Most of these are certainly conditional types of love (I had also said to myself).

Forget about love, place the emphasis on the word unconditional as applied to love. I found 3 types of unconditional love and 5 types of love (depending on how you and I want to further define others). I find light and definition in these 3 types of unconditional love by placing them on the 3 fold (model). The 3 fold in this case used is Physical, Metaphysical and Spiritual. Here how it plays out for me.

The Physical (Body)
The opening quote wins, it rocks! It represents the maternal, paternal love which emanates from Family and by blood. It is the widest of types and/or forms of unconditional love practiced on earth, by far. Most of the experiences, the memories, the challenges of our lives, the silliest and the most important things or aspects of our lives are remembered around family experience. At this dinner table we can all hate each other and still be there for love. This form of love qualifies for placement herein as the physical body of love.

Oh, and if you thought I was going to leave out Sex, will screw you! Sex works very well in this level and dense playing field, though sex lives in a sphere that cycles itself through all dimensions and works itself through an amazing field of attraction and behavioral functioning. Sex is also inherent within every other governing universal law. Sex can also be observed like gravity and within the local laws boundaries.

The Metaphysical (Mind or Emotions)
This is another level or type where 'unconditional love', defined as such with NO conditions and NO limitations should mean just that... unconditional. But... is it? This is the place where we really do all live together. We have our separate houses we build for our (physical) selves and families to have shelter and interior walls (to hide from each other). In the Metaphysical, we have no walls. We live together here with apparent genetically coded barriers that protect us from gravitating too closely to each other. We are quickly finding the truth that we are all one. It is from this world we are looking out further, beyond our physical, all living together, in community, on the planet.
This is the playing field of 'us and them' (not us or them). This is where we take stands (by status quo values) on acceptance, tolerance and hypocrisy.

This is the world of thought and just as so, thoughts have vibratory substance. It is within this realm we authorize choice. Within this realm we also make our environment what it is to be without a guide. It is also this realm that is capable of producing the fruits of our intention. We can use our connection with the forces of 'one' to shape ourselves at will. We bench press with and dance around each other's strengths and weaknesses. While in our most ignorant moments, we feel separate from each other and YET, when we hear a story, see a movie, feel the music, we come to also feel a knowingness that we touch each other here in ways that are simply invisible. When living in this state or level or consciousness, all we can imagine is possible, as the possibilities are exponential. For this to happen can only mean that we have ourselves, become less conditional.

The Spiritual
This is the type of unconditional love that capstones the entire god, self, soul and or mate and the most entrepreneurial expressions of unconditional love we will achieve in human being. It is the only one that is not required for us to master. It is totally elective and therein is comprised of those in a volunteer army.

The Idea here is that each one of us must reach out to build our life within god. It is this living in god that comprises the structure of every religion and provides creativity to every art and science. Personally, our growth through surrendering to a higher power (God) fuels the foundation of our persuasive mission toward realizing peace. The sense of peace we feel comes through the cracks and crevices of experience and pain, from the giving of our worries and fears to trust and faith. With this level of spiritual love, the boundaries widen beyond inside and out.

Through our shell (the body) we navigate our dance with spirit, love and life, as well as it's heavens and yes... here on earth. It is here we must accept EVERYTHING about ourselves, our lives, our mate, family and friends. Our defeats and our enemies melt away in this awareness because even their acceptance is unconditional through forgiveness and gratitude. What makes this even more impactful to me, is that now I realize, I had not felt as deeply about our need for unconditional love and had not understood its meaning as fully as I do right now.

Copyright (C) 2012 Bryan Ridgley
Bryan is a Professional Performance, Fitness and Wellness Educator, Author and Speaker. He currently resides in Southern California and is available for both personal and group trainings in Transformative Living, Stress Management and Molecular Hydration. Follow him on Twitter at http://twitter.com/bryan_ridgley or Facebook at http://facebook.com/bryanridgley