The Ocean of Love

We are made of love, born into love. Upon our first arrival in this life, we bathe in an fathomless ocean of tenderness—in the gentle gaze of our mother's eyes and the embrace of her affection. In those early hours, there is no consciousness; no thought of what must be done to survive—only the simple, unconditional gift of being loved.

But in our earliest years, an invisible hand draws us from that ocean—and it has a name: self-awareness. Suddenly we feel separate, troubled. We begin to think: "I must do something, I must please others." Love ceases to be unconditional and becomes a transaction. Unless we are a "good girl" or a "good boy," we are no longer worthy of love—we must earn it again.

Then begins a lifetime of striving. School rules, society's discipline, workplace culture—we must obey them all. Step out of line and we risk losing our job, our home, our relationships. We slip from love's ocean into a prison of our own making—born of society's influence, yet built by our own hands.

Some yield easily, thinking, "This is how things are." Others resist but cannot escape, carrying forward failed relationships, the dread of unemployment, the nightmare of poverty. And a few rebel—only to find themselves locked behind actual prison walls.

Yet it seems that somewhere deep within, everyone still feels the pull of that ocean of love. Most, though, suppress it under the weight of society's expectations. Only a rare few find the courage to venture out searching for that lost sea. What drives them? Perhaps despair. Perhaps a line from a book they happened upon. Perhaps a scene from a film. Or perhaps the incomparable beauty of a dawn.

I think of the story of Jesus walking on water. Perhaps he meant to say: "Come back. The ocean of love awaits you." Or perhaps he was telling us something else—that we never truly left that ocean at all. We simply mistook the false life for the real one. The moment we see through the illusion, we awaken at once.