There is a difference between love, and duty and obligation.
When we are in a state of unconditional love we always do what we believe to be right both for the other person and for ourselves. What we believe to be the appropriate course of action may coincide with the desires (or even demands) of the other, or it may not.
If it doesn’t, it is never our concern. Everything we do must come from love. If we cannot do it with an open heart and with only love as our motive, then we should not do it at all.
Tradition, culture, and societal norms would have it otherwise. Most of us have had some sort of inculcation into the notion that we are obliged to certain people in our lives, and have a duty to them. This usually means we have to do what they say.
In truth, this is not so. Duty and obligation are merely the human constructs to replace love at times and in relationships when we feel no love. This is old energy, belonging to another time, and it should go the way of crinolines and horse-drawn buggies.
As we move closer to a state of unconditional love, we love ourselves and act and speak only our truth. We do not disguise the absence of love with emotions that belie that truth.
If we feel love for a person, we rarely feel obliged to them or feel a duty towards them. Whatever we do for them we do out of a wholehearted sense of love and concern for the other’s well-being. In a state of love we are always generous, kind and loving.
When love is not our motive, that is, when we do things from a sense of mere duty or obligation, all we are doing is spreading our lovelessness around, and that benefits no one.
The difference between love and duty or obligation is that when we act from love it is we *who decides what we will do. Every act springs from our heart; *our feelings are the determinant of every action. What others want or need is only relevant if it is right for us first.
Unconditional love entails allowing others to walk their path, however and wherever that takes them. Love means allowing others to learn from their own choices, to experience the consequences of their own thoughts, words and actions, to allow them to evolve in the manner of their choosing.
We all attend school and we do so for no one but ourselves. We all accept this, and no one questions it. The earth school is no different; we are only here for us, for our learning, our development, our spiritual evolution. We are each responsible for our path. That is the whole reason for being here.
