Respect in Relationships – the Base for Love – 10 Mar 08
City:
Vrindavan
Country:
India
Today Ramona's family arrived in the Ashram. Now they are all here: Her mother Andrea and her sisters Melly and Susi. We will have a lot of fun here especially with Holi, the crazy festival of colours coming closer.
I want to continue the topic of unconditional respect. You know, when you respect someone without conditions you do not see his bad traits. And I am not saying that you are blind, closing your eyes and ignore the things that disturb others. No, with respect and love these things become sweet. You do not mind if the other one is untidy, you like to see his shirt lying there, like to pick it up and put it where it belongs. You do not mind that she is sometimes talking very much, you like to listen and understand why she feels that she has to tell you this. You do not seek for bad things but you see the qualities. And it is very important that it is like this because if you start seeing bad things, start judging, it will reduce the love. It cannot happen if there is unconditional respect for the other one, for his person, his qualities and the things that are generally not seen as qualities. Accept the whole person, the whole wonderful soul. You see, the thing itself is not bad. It is your perception that makes it good or bad. And with respect the perception changes.
In some way this makes respect even more important than love. No, actually it is still the base that is needed. It is easy to fall in love. Everybody has love inside, which I say is God in us. In one second you can fall in love. But it is more difficult to build up a relationship and even more difficult to maintain it. Respect is needed in it. Unconditional respect. Acceptance and respect are needed for keeping the relationship alive and working. Your perception of your partner must be clean of doubts. Nothing is bad or good, keep in mind that it is only your perception.
The children's food of today and the day before yesterday has been sponsored and today we put the page with the photos on the website. It is very nice that you can give happiness to those who are eating and to those who supply the food. Making someone happy is one of the greatest things to do!
Click here to see the photos of today's lunch
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5 Replies to “Respect in Relationships – the Base for Love – 10 Mar 08”
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Holding this perspective of your partner is hard. I’ve tried. I admire people who can actually do it but it is a struggle for me.
I really really enjoyed this.
Family is nice, i mean obviously you move places and really love living there, but also it is wonderful when the people you grew up with come and love you.
It’s so much fun to reconnect with family! They always got your back.
It would be amazing if we could show this unconditional respect to all people. Even criminals… despite the fact that we disagree with their actions, could we not respect them still? Maybe this is what they’ve always needed in their lives that they never got. Maybe they never would have been criminals if only they had felt respect from people in their lives. We can never know their pain. They may seem like bad people…but we should learn respect regardless. We don’t have to agree with them or support their actions, but we can respect their souls.