“Love is felt most deeply when it is leaving.”

I can’t unearth who first said the above quote, but it’s frequently referred to when speaking of love and loss. Most of what I could uncover was in agreement and sometimes added that “airports see more sincere kisses than wedding halls, and the walls of hospitals have heard more prayers than the walls of churches.” Someone might react to this by saying, “There’s more truth than poetry” in that quote. If it’s true, and I have no grounds to dispute it, I still have to at least question its validity and lament that it may be true.

I’ve been writing about love for the past several weeks. Being in touch with the understanding of love is paramount as the world experiences change. One aspect of love is that it can be present and only felt at the subconscious level. It isn’t a feeling always identifiable. We don’t need to understand everything.

Love is more powerful than hate. We can feel it so strongly that we want to shout from the rooftops that love does exist if we only believe. If we doubt love exists, we are still apt to defend its existence because our souls quietly nudge us that it does. Love doesn’t have to be a feeling but expresses itself as such when energy and magnetism come together. How we experience it is likely determined by the strength of the action.

Love is a timeless space that assures us that the Divine is present. It’s a space in which we can come to know ourselves. It offers us respite when challenges arise and re-energizes us when we feel like a withering flower in a garden of flowers. Everyone deserves the action of love—everyone who has ever made a mistake or seems to be the most despicable of all humans. Indeed, perhaps they need it more so that the love that crouches in their heart’s shadow is enticed to come forth and shine brightly.

Ask yourself who benefits when you love with a wild abandonment. Love is a personal gain, an act of charity. As such, the charity we serve comes back to bless us.  Love is both a selfish and selfless act.

Back to the idea that love is felt more intensely when leaving. How deeply we love or how we love isn’t a contest. The action behind love makes a difference in how it is perceived.

Love is felt deeply when we love ourselves unjudgmentally and, in turn, love our fellow humans unjudgmentally. Love is felt deeply when sitting quietly with someone in mourning or sharing lunch with our enemy.

Love is felt deeply even when we don’t give it a name.

The depth of love is not its point. Love is an energy-filled vibration that lifts us and our neighbors. How can we believe that love is felt most profoundly when it is leaving? Love doesn’t need to be measured, nor should it be.

All love needs is the space to grow.