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Advanced Course in Yogi Philosophy and Oriental Occultism328
like this. Unselfish love flows out toward the loved one, and asks nothing in
return. Its joy lies in the happiness of the loved one, rather than in the selfish
demand for a return of the love. True love is constantly saying to itself, “Give,
give, give,” while the selfish, material love is continually demanding of the
other person “Give, give, give to me.” True love radiates like the sunlight,
while selfish love would draw to itself like the whirlpool.
If one loves another in such a way that if the other’s love be withdrawn
all happiness will fade out of life, then that first person is the slave of
circumstances—slave of the other’s emotions or passions. He is attached
in such a way that he must suffer the pain of disappointment, neglect or
change. And he usually has such pain come to him, for such a love, being
mortal, must die, and its death will bring great pain and suffering to the
one who relies upon it for happiness. The love of the freed and unattached
person is different. It is not a lesser lover—it is the greater of the two—but
it is not attached to the personality of the other, nor is it dependent upon
the manifestation of affection on the part of the other. It is Love—pure Love,
and not the passionate, selfish thing that passes current as the real thing, of
which it is merely a base counterfeit.
Edward Carpenter says of Love:
“Who loves the mortal creature, ending there, is no more free—he has given
himself away to Death.
“For him the slimy black Form lies in wait at every turn, befouling the universe;
“Yet he who loves must love the mortal, and he who would love perfectly must be
free:
(“Love—glorious though it be—is a disease as long as it destroys or even impairs
the freedom of the soul.)
“Therefore if thou wouldst love, withdraw thyself from love—
“Make it thy slave, and all the miracles of nature shall lie in the palm of thy hand.”
And again: