What is an Unsolicited Announcement?  Well, on the one hand, if I tell you something about myself, and if that remark arises as a natural response from our conversation, or from the situation we’re in, then I see no folly in that. On the other hand, if I tell you something about myself which is not prompted by some "natural" cause, but which seems to arise from my own agenda, spontaneously and without any apparent connection to anything in particular, then that is what I mean by an Unsolicited Announcement.

The funny thing about Unsolicited Announcements, which makes them so amusing to observe, is that they are always untrue. In fact, in my experience it's usually the very opposite that's true.

This has a lot in common with another principle of life, which is "The Accuser Is Guilty" – but we’ll save that discussion for a future episode, when Bodhi steps into the pitfall of accusation..

In Episode 8, what we see is   Bodhi  sincerely announcing his "love" to be of a wonderfully selfless and giving variety -- which he believes to be true, but which of course is belied by his lack of empathy and connectedness with the object of his "love."    Therefore this Unsolicited Announcement turns out to be untrue, as usual.  In this case, Bodhi's head is so full with his own emotional oupourings and feelings that are welling up in him that he is totally on his own agenda, and he is not nearly as tuned into Dharma as he believes he is.

All this inevitably brings up the issue of definitions -- what do we mean by "love" in this context?  I will quote from the excellent reference book, "A Handbook Of Tibetan Culture" (ISBN 0 7126 5663 4): "In a Buddhist context, love or loving kindness is defined as a mental factor characterised by a sincere wish that others enjoy happiness.  According to this definition, love is one of the eleven 'wholesome mental factors'  categorised in the abhidharma literature.  However, in the case of the four immeasurables, the word love is used as an abbreviation for 'great love' (mahamaitri in Sanskrit or byams-pa chen-po in Tibetan) which refers to an altruistic mental attitude that is unbiased in its love towards all living beings and is also spontaneous and natural.  It is said that such a spontaneous sense of universal or unqualified love can only arise as a result of a systematic meditative training."

They say "love is blind", this is especially the case when we are "in love with love" as is our hero Bodhi. He is so attached to the concept of love that he is blinded to the reality that he is, in fact, hurting his friend. Sometimes, however, real love demands just that - at least in the short term. Sometimes, as the saying goes: "you have to be cruel to be kind".

When I contracted polio as an infant and my mother was told I would never sit up and not live beyond the age of five; she could, as many might under the circumstances, have just accepted that it was hopeless and sought only to make my remaining months as happy as possible. Some would have seen this as the "loving" thing to do. Instead, my earliest memory is laying on the kitchen table being exhorted by my mother to do my exercises in sight of a large stick that I was, reliably, persuaded would be applied to my posterior anatomy should I fail to comply!

My mother's love (which I didn't perceive as such at the time) saved my life and I am here to tell the tale 10 times the number of years after the doctors said I would be kicking up the roses!

'Abdu'l-Bahá the son of Bahá'u'l láh founder of the Bahá' í Faith spoke much of love. Indeed He was it's living embodiment and was knighted by the British government for his services to humanity. In a talk in Paris he declaimed:-

What a power is love! It is the most wonderful, the greatest of all living powers. Love gives life to the lifeless. Love lights a flame in the heart that is cold. Love brings hope to the hopeless and gladdens the hearts of the sorrowful. In the world of existence there is indeed no greater power than the power of love. When the heart of man is aglow with the flame of love, he is ready to sacrifice all - even his life. In the Gospel it is said God is love.

There are four kinds of love. The first is the love that flows from God to man; it consists of the inexhaustible graces, the Divine effulgence and heavenly illumination. Through this love the world of being receives life. Through this love man is endowed with physical existence, until, through the breath of the Holy Spirit - this same love - he receives eternal life and becomes the image of the Living God. This love is the origin of all the love in the world of creation.

The second is the love that flows from man to God. This is faith, attraction to the Divine, enkindlement, progress, entrance into the Kingdom of God, receiving the Bounties of God, illumination with the lights of the Kingdom. This love is the origin of all philanthropy; this love causes the hearts of men to reflect the rays of the Sun of Reality.

The third is the love of God towards the Self or Identity of God. This is the transfiguration of His Beauty, the reflection of Himself in the mirror of His Creation. This is the reality of love, the Ancient Love, the Eternal Love. Through one ray of this Love all other love exists.

The fourth is the love of man for man. The love which exists between the hearts of believers is prompted by the ideal of the unity of spirits. This love is attained through the knowledge of God, so that men see the Divine Love reflected in the heart. Each sees in the other the Beauty of God reflected in the soul, and finding this point of similarity, they are attracted to one another in love. This love will make all men the waves of one sea, this love will make them all the stars of one heaven and the fruits of one tree. This love will bring the realization of true accord, the foundation of real unity.

But the love which sometimes exists between friends is not (true) love, because it is subject to transmutation; this is merely fascination. As the breeze blows, the slender trees yield. If the wind is in the East the tree leans to the West, and if the wind turns to the West the tree leans to the East. This kind of love is originated by the accidental conditions of life. This is not love, it is merely acquaintanceship; it is subject to change.

Today you will see two souls apparently in close friendship; tomorrow all this may be changed. Yesterday they were ready to die for one an other, today they shun one another's society! This is not love; it is the yielding of the hearts to the accidents of life. When that which has caused this 'love' to exist passes, the love passes also; this is not in reality love. Love is only of the four kinds that I have explained. ( a) The love of God towards the identity of God. Christ has said God is Love. (b) The love of God for His children - for His servants. (c) The love of man for God and (d) the love of man for man. These four kinds of love originate from God. These are rays from the Sun of Reality; these are the Breathings of the Holy Spirit; these are the Signs of the Reality. (Paris Talks, pages 179-181 - available from The Bahá'í Publishing Trust) --by Paul Booth   paul@nur.win-uk.net

Mindfulness (sati) is derived from a root meaning of "to remember", and basically entails being aware of--and thus remembering--things that you do and things that happen to you. As such, one is encouraged to direct mindfulness towards four objects: one's own body, one's own feelings, one's own mind and one's own mental states. In the application of mindfulness to the body, the most common object is, initially, the breath. As the Satipa.t.t.haanasutta has it:

"A monk sits down cross-legged, holding his back erect, setting up mindfulness before him. Mindful he breathes in; mindful he breathes out. As he breathes in a long breath, he is aware that he is breathing in a long breath; as he breathes out a long breath, he is aware that he is breathing out a long breath. Or, as he breathes in a short breath, he is aware that he is breathing in a short breath; as he breathes out a short breath, he is aware that he is breathing out a short breath" (Majjhimanikaaya I 56).

One of the reasons why it is normal to begin the cultivation of mindfulness with the breath is that breathing is always with us, meaning that we can practise mindfulness of breathing wherever we are and whatever we are doing. We can do it riding on a bus, waiting in a queue, or indeed just about anywhere. This same mindfulness with respect to the body should then also be extended more generally to other parts of the body: when standing still, one should be aware that one is standing still, repeatedly noticing the body's stationery nature, noticing the feet's contact with the ground, and so on; when walking, one should be aware that one is walking, noticing the right foot's inital contact with the ground, its middle phase when fully in contact with the ground, and its final phase of being lifted off the ground, followed by mindfulness of the same things as the left foot begins to make contact with the ground. In fact, walking up and down mindfully noticing the feet's contact in this way is often used during protracted meditation sessions, since it not only helps maintain mindfulness, but also offers the body some relief from the sitting position. Monasteries usually have walkways (similar to a cricket pitch) expressly used for this purpose. Similarly, when sitting, one should become aware of the body's contact with the ground, the position of the limbs, and whether they are aching, and so on. And so, too, with other bodily postures. In the same way, one should also develop the habit of watching, and becoming fully aware of, any feelings that may arise, the current state of the mind and any mental states that are present. It should, therefore, be clear that mindfulness is to be directed towards oneself, and that it is not possible, as Bodhi seems to believe, to be mindful of another's body, feelings, mind or mental states. It is true that some adepts at concentration are said to be able to develop various supernormal powers, including that of being able to read the mind of others; but the power that allows one to read another's mind is not to be confused with mindfulness. Now, had Bodhi truly been practising mindfulness, he would immediately have been aware that one part of his own body, his right knee, was making contact, not with the ground, but with something long, cyclindrical and furry. Instead, he is totally preoccupied with his own altrusim, completely failing to notice the feelings of the object of his apparent concern. This reminds me of an occasion upon which some medical students once asked a local Burmese monk about the ethics of euthenasia, wondering whether this might be warranted, when they could not bear to see their patient suffer. The monk's astute reply was that, if they could not bear to see a patient suffer, they were concerned only with their own feelings, albeit altruistic, and not those of the patient. -- Peter Masefield

Love is not only paying absolute attention to the loved one, and being mindful of their feelings, but being prepared to ENTER INTO the world of their feelings, sharing their feelings so far as that is possible and caring for them, COME WHAT MAY.  – Rev Bern Stevens.

        If Love Is, does it need to be manifested in such an obvious way as Bodhi does here?  For Bodhi is so intent upon expressing his feeling of emotion towards Dharma that he does not realise it becomes suffocating for the recipient of that love.  If love is another expression of mindfulness, then it becomes a kind of object able to be substituted for any other kind of object, and all the more artificial for that.  The trick is to realise love for what it is and express it in a way that is all-embracing whilst not being all-confining.
        The Hindu devotional path of bhakti is probably well known to most readers of this commentary.  Its importance in understanding the development of Hinduism over the past two thousand years can never be underestimated and it can truly be said that a devotional framework -
expressed on an intellectual and practical plane - ties the diversity of Hindu practices together.  Given its long history and its manifestation in so many areas of religious practice and life, it should come as no surprise that it has produced many meditations on the theme of love between god and devotee, ranging from the most unemotional to the most erotic in tone.
        The Bhagavadgita speaks often of the open-ended nature of love and of its acceptance without pre-condition.  In 9.26 it says, "If a leaf, a flower, a fruit or water is offered with loving devotion to me, I will accept it because it is offered with loving devotion from a disciplined person."   The message of this and the subsequent verses in the same text is that the quality of love and its uniqueness must be cultivated.  Krishna, the teacher of Arjuna in the Bhagavadgita, is disdainful of external rituals directed to him where no real and intended love is offered.  True, the love has to be manifested but it is the feeling more than the form of manifestation that is important.  In return for devotional love, the god will return love to the devotee in a reciprocal manner.  At all times it must be freely offered and accepted.
        And here lies Bodhi's fault.  He holds Dharma and verbally expresses his love, smothering him in the process. Yet does he know him? Hardly, or he would not be sitting on his tail.  Love is an act where self and other are both distinguished and joined.  Unhappily, as we all know, this balance is very hard to attain.  Bodhi expresses the right words, but I cannot help feeling his love for Dharma is really love for himself.  He feels good - as we see from the hearts pouring forth from him - whilst Dharma is annoyed, temporarily captured in a situation over which he has no control.  Love must be mutual.  It can never just be one way..  -- Dr Greg Bailey

My Mother, June Rachuy Brindel, wrote a poem to my Father, Bernard. A Love poem, called: "High Energy Physics".  I share it with you.

First of all, my darling, your should know
that after Mr. Heisenberg’s visit
I think of you not as a solid citizen
but as a quick-changing pattern
of whirling particles bombarding each other.  And me.

Furthermore, you are what I know
you to be and that depends upon
whether you talk through patterns
of particles in toothpaste, tobacco, weather
traffic, terror, meditation, mayhem
et cetera.

Considering the circumstances, there seems
little possibility of love.  Yet I do believe
Lao and Nils might notice connections
between us.  And old Isaac would surely swear
that he saw something heavy as apples
bounding and rebounding between our gravities.

--Rev. Paul Rachuy Brindel

Love is a state of mind in which a lover is naturally attracted towards his loved one, as a piece of iron is attracted towards a magnet getting close to it and sharing its properties. In humans love is generated either due to the beauty or beneficence of the beloved. A Muslim believes in and utters many times a day: ALHAMDO LILLAH, which means that all praise belongs to Allah-ie-God is the real source of all beauty and beneficence. Islam, therefore, expects that a man's strongest love should be for God. Quran says: " Some people adopt objects of worship other than Allah and love them as they should love Allah, but those who believe love Allah most---" (2:166)

Quran also states three stages of human relationship in the following verse: " Allah enjoins equity, and benevolence and graciousness as between kindred, and forbids evil designs, ill-behaviour and transgression. He admonishes you that you may take heed." (16:91)

The verse contains three commandments and three prohibitions which deal with all the various stages of the moral and spiritual development of man and with both of its positive and negative sides. It enjoins justice, the doing of good to others and kindness as between kindred; and forbids indecency, manifest evil and transgression. Justice implies that a person should treat others as he is treated by them. He should return to others the good or evil to the extent or measure to which he receives it from them. Higher than ADAL(justice) is the stage of IHSAN(goodness) when men should do good to others regardless of what sort of treatment he receives from them or even if he is maltreated by them. His conduct should not be actuated by considerations of reciprocity. At the last and highest stage of moral development viz., " ITA- E-ZIL QURBA"( giving like kindred), a believer is expected to do good to others not in return for any good received from them, nor with the idea of doing more good than the good received, but to do good prompted by a natural impulse, as good is done to very near blood relations. His condition at this stage resembles that of a mother whose love for her children springs from natural impulse. After a believer has attained this stage his moral development becomes complete.

The above-mentioned three stages of morals constitute the positive side of man's moral development. Its negative side is portrayed in three words viz., FAHSHA (indecency), MUNKAR (manifest evil) and BAGHY ( transgression). FAHSHA signifies the vice of which the knowledge is confined to the doer and MUNKAR signifies those evils which other men also see and condemn, though they may not suffer any loss or infringement of their own rights by them. BAGHY, however, comprehends all the vices and evils which not only are seen, felt and denounced by other people but which do them positive harm also. These three simple words cover all conceivable vices. ( Taken from Commentary of Holy Quran by Hazrat Mirza Bashir-ud-din Mahmood Ahmad, 1889-1965, 2^nd Successor of founder of Ahmadiyya Movement in Islam )

A RABBI'S COMMENT
DHARMA THE CAT EPISODE 8 - "LOVE IS"
by Rabbi Brian D, Fox AM.,DD
Senior Rabbi Temple Emanuel Sydney Australia.
[view the cartoon]

Two old friends are sitting in the afternoon sunshine. The one looks at the other and asks "Do you love me?" The other answers "Of course I love you!" To which the first asks "If you love me, where do I hurt?"

Dharma is teaching an imnportant lesson about love: it has to be complete: and complete means knowing where pain is being felt. Some peopole believe in Love but disconnect it from a loved person; some believe in childhood but cannot stand children; some believe in friendship but cannot be an uncritical and supportive friend.

Don't tell me you love me and you want to convert me to your religion:if you love me you must validate me in my own religion.When you evangelise me you stand on my tail. -- Rabbi Brian Fox

A PAGAN (WICCAN) PERSPECTIVE
DHARMA THE CAT: EPISODE 8 - "LOVE IS"
by Mari Powers
[view the cartoon]

Bodhi almost has it right this time. Love is paying attention to the beloved and being mindful. It is also being open to receive. And he is not quite as open as he should be to the signals Dharma is sending about his tail.

Love is the ultimate electricity, the on and off pulse of energy exchanged. Sending and receiving must balance to complete the circuit.