Love Your Enemy

The prescription to love your enemy and to requite evil with good is sometimes thought of as an impractical and perfectionist ethic, able to be practiced only by a few exceptional souls. But, in fact, this doctrine is widely taught in all religions as a fundamental principle for pursuing relationships with others. The person who insists upon vengeance or retribution is not necessarily committing a crime, but neither will his act of revenge be helpful to spiritual advancement. Revenge, which requites evil with evil, only multiplies evil in the world, while love, by in which one strives to overcome evil with good, spreads goodness in the world.

True love is unconditional and impartial--thus the metaphor of the sun that shines down on all life. It is tested and proven by encounters with those who are difficult to love. Where true love prevails, there no enemies are found.

The concluding passages dispute the prescription to love your enemy when it apparently contravenes the principles of justice and right. Sometimes the best way to love an evil person is to make him face justice, or to hinder him from doing wrong. Nevertheless, these corrective actions should be done with a loving heart and with the other person's welfare uppermost in mind.

From "WORLD SCRIPTURE - A Comparative Anthology of Sacred Texts" by Dr. Andrew Wilson, Editor

Teater Taimine: Kärlek! Kärlek!

Barneteater på Trikkehallen på Kjelsås. En komedie om 11-årige Kevin som har en mamma som er finlandssvensk og pappa som er finsk. Kärlek! Kärlek! viser hvor komplisert og overraskende kjærlighet kan være.

At foreldre som krangler, men også kysser mye, kanskje er lykkeligere enn stokkonservative mormor og miserable morfar som er blitt forsteinet av plikt og fasade. Kärlek! Kärlek! handler om for første gang å reflektere over fenomenet kjærlighet.

Passer for barn i barneskolealderen. I samarbeid med Norden i Fokus.

Sted: Trikkehallen på Kjelsås, Midtoddveien 12 (Kjelsåstrikkens endeholdeplass) Tid: 14.09. kl.18

Medieval Images of “Sacred Love”: Jewish and Christian Perceptions

Christian artists present a dynamic image, featuring the passionate relations of the "lover" and his "beloved." Jewish illuminators present a more static and ceremonial picture, in which respect and courtesy take the place of passion and ardency. These differences in approach can be attributed mainly to the different interpretations of the poem as reflected in the respective commentaries, and to the fact that in Jewish art there is a ban on the depiction of God in human form. The present paper examines the nature of Jewish iconography by comparing it to Christian representations of the same subject - the Song of Songs. In Christian art the images appear mainly as an illumination of the initial "O" illustrating the poem or a commentary of the poem. In Jewish art they appear in the mahzor, and illuminate a piyyut, a prayer which draws its inspiration and several verses from the Song of Songs.

From a very early date, the ardent love expressed in the Song of Songs has been interpreted allegorically by both Jewish and Christian exegetes. In both traditions the intimacy between the lover and his beloved is seen as representing the relations between God and man. For the Christian exegetes, it is the mutual love between Christ the bridegroom and His bride, the Church, or the union of the Divine Word and the individual soul. In Jewish expositions, this intimacy is understood in terms of God's bond, or the Schekinah, with the people of Israel and His commitment to them. In a general sense, although these two interpretations of the Scriptures appear to be similar, they differ both in context and in spirit.

by Ruth Bartal

Sacred and Profane Love

Sacred and Profane Love, Titian's masterpiece painted when he was about twenty-five to celebrate the marriage of the Venetian Nicolò Aurelio (coat of arms on the sarcophagus) and Laura Bagarotto in 1514. The bride dressed in white sitting beside Cupid is assisted by Venus in person. The figure with the vase of jewels symbolizes "fleeting happiness on earth" and the one bearing the burning flame of God's love symbolizes "eternal happiness in heaven".

Venus Coelestis & Venus Vulgaris

There are actually two Venuses, discussed in Plato's Symposium, Celestial Venus and Earthly Venus. The two Venuses correspond to the notion of Sacred and Profane love, a big topic in the Renaissance.

Love is My Religion, Ziggy Marley

"This album is from my heart," says Ziggy Marley of his second solo album, Love is My Religion (Tuff Gong Worldwide). Embracing both the spiritual and emotional side of life, Ziggy has definitively come into his own as an artist.
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On the title track, "Love is My Religion," his message is one that "people need to hear," a unifying devotion to love that "needs to be preached in churches and mosque and synagogues."

Karl Marx

Låt oss anta att människan är människa och att hon har en mänsklig relation till världen. Då kan endast kärlek få kärlek i utbyte, tillit få tillit osv. Om man vill njuta av konst, måste man vara konstnärligt bildad. Om man vill ha inflytande över andra människor, måste man vara en person som verkligen har en stimulerande och uppmuntrande effekt på andra. Alla relationer till människor och till naturen måste vara specifika uttryck för ens faktiska individuella liv och anpassas efter det objekt man riktar sig till. Om man älskar utan att framkalla kärlek i utbyte, dvs om man inte genom att bevisa sig vara en älskande människa förmår göra sig till en älskad människa, då är ens kärlek maktlös och ett olycksöde.

Från Karl Marx' Ökonomisch philosophische Manuskripte

Kärleken som socialpsykologisk faktor

I stället för kärlekens blinda, allt uppslukande och krävande lidelse, i stället för äganderättskänslan och det egoistiska begäret att binda den älskade till sig "for alltid", i stället för maskulin inbilskhet och kvinnans skrämmande självutplåning kommer vi att få se kärleken utveckla andra, ovärderliga, drag. Vi kommer att få se respekten för den andra personen stärkas liksom strävan efter att ta hänsyn till den andres rättigheter. En inbördes själslig förmåga till inlevelse kommer att mogna, och en vilja att uttrycka kärleken inte bara genom kyssar och ömhetsbetygelser utan även i gemensam handling, enhetlig vilja, gemensamt arbete.

Den proletära ideologins uppgift är inte att jaga bort Eros från de samhälleliga sammanhangen, utan att fylla hans koger med pilar av ett nytt märke; att fostra kärlekskänslan mellan könen till att harmoniera med den nya stora psykiska kraften: kamratkärleken.

Jag hoppas att det nu står klart för dig, unga väninna, att det ökade intresse som arbetarungdomen visar för kärieksfrågor inte är ett tecken på "dekadens". Nu kommer du själv att kunna avgöra vilken plats kärleken ska inta, inte bara i proletariatets ideologi utan också i de levande förbindelserna mellan de unga arbetarna.


Ur: Bered plats åt "Den bevingade Eros", Brev till en ung arbetarkvinna
Av: Alexandra Kollontay, 1923

Ydmyk kjærlighet

Enkelte menneskers tankegang kan gjøre en målløs, særlig når en ser deres synder. En spør seg om det er riktigst å møte dem med makt eller med ydmyk kjærlighet. Velg alltid den ydmyke kjærligheten! Hvis du bestemmer deg for det en gang for alle, kan du overvinne hele verden. Kjærlighetens ydmykhet er vidunderlig sterk, den er sterkest av alt, og ulik alt annet.

Fjodor Dostojevski