Dreamer's World June 16 2015 - Love

“It matters not who you love, where you love, why you love, when you love, or how you love, it only matters that you love” John Lennon
Such powerful words, so simple and yet so intertwined to make us stop and think. Love is the eternal mystery. Love is what makes us Happy and Sad. Love can make us feel so much a part of something, and it can also make us feel so completely alone.
John Lennon was a keen observer of humanity. He was no saint by any measure, but he was able to make his observations with such clarity and wit that they stand out years after his death.
“It matters not who you love”. This was probably written in response to the criticism that John himself faced over his relationship with Yoko Ono. Such a relationship was not viewed as innocently then as it is today. However, John Lennon used the language that makes this applicable to the world today. It can be applied to Gays and Lesbians in the modern sense. The statement reflects the act of love, it does not attempt to judge in any way, not should it. When we are all children we are taught the magic of love, although the definition has defied the best minds for millennia. To find love and to express love is the greatest experience that we can have.
Why are we so resistant to the idea of love? We seem far too ready to proclaim our support for the latest examples of hate and cruelty in the world. Someone raises up a banner of multi-colored fabric and we lose our sense of humanity out of a misguided sense of loyalty to that banner. We will kill and injure in the name of that banner, because we know that it offers us absolution for the monstrous crimes that we commit under its shadow.
Why then, are we so resistant to love one another? Is it because love somehow suggests weakness rather than strength? If that is the case, then why do we offer such quasi-religious devotion to the idea of love? I believe that love is what we are intended for, but hate is what we are programmed to do. Those who lead us know that it is easier to maintain control by instilling hate in us rather than love. Love remains an abstract idea, while they provide us with a constant drumbeat of hatred and war. To them, love becomes something that we “protect” by committing atrocities. There is no logic, and no love in this mentality. No wonder we always feel so empty. No wonder love seems so elusive to us all. No wonder that love is seen as a possession, rather than an emotion, or a lifestyle.
I wish that I had the opportunity to have met John Lennon. I think that an afternoon talking with him would have been fascinating. Perhaps he could have enlightened us more than he already has. I have often thought that John Lennon would have loved the internet, with the free flow of ideas and creativity. Sadly, we are left with small glimpses of John Lennon’s brilliant insight, but perhaps that is for the best. It keeps us searching for the truth in things, and I think that is the most important thing that there is.