Dear All,
I have a definition. Love is anything you do that leads to the healthy
growth of the object of your love. So love is not a feeling, it is
action.
Here are two examples.
A gardener who takes time to understand her or his plants and what they
need and provides them with the soil and sun and a position where they
grow well. They also look their best. The gardener loves plants because
s(he) helps them grow. S(he) loves gardening because s(he) does it well
and works to do it better. S(he) grows her gardening too.
I worked once with a man who was harrassing his staff. He was very big, an
expert in martial arts and physically intimidating. I decided to get close
to him, to understand him without blaming and not to act on my fear. He
soon told me that he was quite deaf and this had not been diagnosed until
he was five. He was the youngest of five children and when he did not
answer when spoken to his parents hit him.
When I said he did not deserve any of that, his eyes filled with tears. He
said how pleased he was to have someone to listen to him.
Later, his boss later reported him to be a changed person! He was
listening to his staff and producing many constructive ideas. He was also
much happier.
I suppose this leads to another question. How do we create loving
organisations? As love leads to healthy growth then we need them. In a
loving organisation all the people within it and who interact with it
would be growing and developing. Its relationship with the environment and
its community would be that of the gardener, above and her garden.
Best wishes
Nick Heap nickheap@tesco.net
--"Nick Heap" <nickheap@tesco.net>
Learning-org -- Hosted by Rick Karash <rkarash@karash.com> Public Dialog on Learning Organizations -- <http://www.learning-org.com>