Ask The Master: 6 Dec 2007

Q. How do I know whether the love I am experiencing is real, or an illusion?

Love is always real, never an illusion. It only remains to be seen whether you have labeled the wrong emotion as love! Love is that which cannot be destroyed by anything - especially by reality! If it flies out of the window as soon as the honeymoon is over, it isn’t love. If it diminishes because the partner has put on weight or forgets an anniversary, it certainly isn’t love. If it continues to trust, even when the partner has been unworthy of trust, that is true love.

How do you know that what you are feeling for someone is truly love? Take this check.

Does the mere presence of the person fill you with joy, with peace, make you feel more centered in yourself? Do you enjoy sitting silently together, experiencing a communion that goes beyond words? Do you feel no fear of losing the person, no matter what? Have challenges and anxieties helped your love to flower more fully? Above all, does loving this person come naturally to you - as if there were no other way?

This is the essence of love. In fact, love does not even know the fear that it might all be an illusion. So while you love, love as if it were the only truth. And if a moment comes sometime when you feel that it is an illusion, it simply means that love is now over and it is time for you to move on.

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This excerpt has been taken from the book: Uncommon Answers to Common Questions