What is Love?
愛是什麼
What is Love? The eternal question we all carry around deep within our heart. Love is the eternal search. Love is eternal when we find it. But do we really ever find it ? When we define it do we negate it? When we set limits on what we believe to be love do we begin to destroy it by hoping to understand or own it for ourselves? We offer it through all of our relationship we vary our giving, often by what we hope to receive in return. But is this really love?
愛是什麼？這是所有人心底一個永恆的問題。愛，是永恆的尋覓。愛一旦被找到，它也將變為永恆。但是我們真的找到過愛嗎？當我們定義愛的同時，是否也在否定愛呢？在給我們所認為的愛加種種限制的同時，我們試圖按自己的方式理解它，或想將其據為己有時，我們是否也在破壞它呢？我們將愛施與周圍的所有人，而如何給予是由期望的回報來決定的。但這是真正的愛
I recently overheard someone say in a conversation that there is no such thing as 「 unconditional love .」 I would have to agree, although for different reasons. Love within itself is unconditional. Anything else is only an attempt to love, a learning to get us nearer to the one true knowing of love. It may be honorable, well-intentioned, passionate and desiring, courageous and pure. It may be felt as temporary, but if lost easily it may not have been love at all. Love cannot be thwarted and often fall short of what we hope love will be. This is where we learn we are human.
最近，我無意間聽別人說，世上沒有所謂的「無條件的愛」。在此，我不得不表示同意這一論斷，儘管理由不盡相同，但愛本身確是無條件的。其他一切都僅僅是愛的一種嘗試，通過它們去逐漸地理解愛的真諦。愛可能是高貴善意的，是充滿熱情和渴望的，是勇敢和純潔的；愛情可能不是持久的，但假如輕易就會失去，那也許並不是愛；愛是勢不可擋的，而且，常常達不到我們的期望值。由此我們可以透察人性。
Love has been experienced as having a life of living poetry. Love has been experienced as being the very notes of song, uplifting and generous to the wanting ear. Love has been experienced as the final act of giving one’s life for another in battle. Love has been experienced as choosing to give new life to another. Love has been experienced as an endless passionate over flow of emotion in the arms of waiting lover.
愛的經歷就像一首鮮活靈動的詩；愛的經歷就像一個個美妙動聽的音符，讓企盼的雙耳得到振奮、滿足；愛的經歷就像戰場上捨己救人的一幕；愛的經歷就像賦予人新生的選擇；愛的經歷就像依偎在期盼已久的愛人臂彎時所流露出的無盡愛意。
What do you do with the love granted to you each day? How many times do we deny its expression for others because we fear what our own expressions will bring? Are we not denying our creator every time we deny the expression of love?
你是怎樣對待每天給予你的愛的呢？有多少次由於害怕被拒絕，我們未能向他人表達愛意？在每次拒絕愛的表白之時，難道我們不是拒絕造物主的恩賜嗎？
Lost, empty, alone and searching. As individuals who have experienced separation or divorce, or even the loss of a loved one to death, the separation can be the most traumatic experience we live through. The heart-wrenching pain that seems to never really go away, the enormous waves that hit us daily, the times we hit the wall right after a strong and uplifting experience reminds us that we are learning. We are learning about strength, passion for our own life, about our own sincerity in our beliefs, about our loyalty to who we are, and certainly about our own genuineness. We search for that day when love will come again. We search everywhere, everyday, almost every hour.
迷茫、空虛、孤獨、尋覓。對於那些經歷過分別、離異，甚至失去過愛人的人來說，這樣的離別乃是生命中最大的傷痕。揪心的傷痛永無此境；生活中的挫折和磨難無時無刻不在提醒我們：我們正處於認知的過程中。我們正在認識自己生命的力量和激情，認識對信仰的虔誠，認識對自的忠貞，認識自己的本性。我們期待真愛重回的那一天，我們每時每刻都在每個角落尋覓。
It has been said for centuries that 「 love is where the eyes meet with passion, for the eyes cannot hide what the heart feels.」 So we have learned to look outward for this eternal love that will fulfill us, forgetting that it must first fill our own hearts. Perhaps that is why we fall into such pain and agony and sorrow when a love affair fails. It is at that moment that we realize we did not fail the other person we expressed love to , but we have somehow not fulfilled ourselves once again. We combat failure with a misunderstood unfulfilled promise. We lose it, not knowing if we will ever find it again. The emotion tides lift and fall ,crash and settle, then lift again.
幾個世紀以來，我們一直說：「愛就是充滿激情的目光相遇，因為眼睛掩飾不住內心的真實感受」。因此，我們都學會了向外看，去尋找那份永恆的能使自己充實起來的愛，卻忽略了它首先應佔據我們自己心靈的領地。或許，這就是當一段戀情受挫時，我們會如此地痛苦和悲傷的原因所在。此時，我們才意識到，我們並未負於曾向我們示愛的那個人，只是我們認為它沒能讓我們充實、完整。我們用誤解且無法兌現的承諾來抑制失敗。我們失去了愛，不知是否能再次找回它。感情的潮水起伏不定，時而洶湧，時而平和，繼而會再次澎湃。
No one else, no matter how much we talk or cry, can pull us through the anxious hours of soul repair and growth. It is our own fire within that needs rekindling, guarding against the winds that would blow it out and leave us dark, cold and helpless. It is at this time that we find the lobe that binds us together with every other being that surrounds us on the planet. Eventually we find the sun still rises to meet in the morning and the stars continue to show us the way each night. The rivers still flow downstream into oceans that will never turn them away. The trees still reach upward every day praising the God that made them. We stand up straight and take a lesson from it all.
無論我們說了多少話，流了多少淚，無人能幫助我們過心靈修復的陰霾與成長過程中的綿綿陰雨。我們的心靈為火需要再燃，需要呵護，不致讓風將其吹滅，不致讓自己被黑暗、陰冷和無助所包圍。此時，我們便找到把我們與周圍的每一個生命維繫在一起的那份愛。我們終會發現，太陽依然長期升起，來迎接黎明的到來；星光依然閃爍，來指引我們夜行的方向；江河依然流向下遊，歸入廣納百川的大海；樹木依然日日向上生長，歌頌賦予其生命的上蒼。我們挺直身軀，從這一切中汲取教訓。
What if you woke up one morning and realized that you were the only person left on the face of the earth? Who would you love? Why do we wait so long to start the journey that begins in the same place that it ends？Love, in all its endlessness, unboundedness and failed definitions is this experience.
如果某天早上，當你醒來，發覺這個世界只剩下你一人，你當如何應對？你去愛誰？我們為何要等如此長的時間，才在終點重新形開始新的旅程？這是一次無邊無盡、無從定義的愛之旅。
Love doesn’t ask why. It doesn’t come. It doesn’t go. It just is. It is not only in our hands, it is our hands. It isn’t only in our heart, it is what makes our heart beat every beat. It wraps itself around us so securely that all we need to do to survive against all odds is to recognize it as the very breath we just drew, and the last breath we just let go.
愛不問理由。它不會走近你，也不會遠離你。愛始終存在著。它就是我們的手中，在我們的心裡，確切地說就是我們的雙手，就是我們每一次心跳的動力。愛將我們安全地包圍著，我們把它當成每一次真切的呼吸，時刻與愛同在，是我們克服一切困難有秘訣。