Wow moment for me in the 4 sessions uptill now would be the definition of ‘LOVE’.
“The will to extend one’s self for the purpose of nurturing one’s own and another’s spiritual growth.” – Dr. M Scott Peck.
Being in the mindset that that love is merely a feeling , where now I have had a paradigm shift that Love is not merely a feeling, in fact love being a feeling has no value till there actions justifying the same.
During all the sessions, I was able to reflect back on my relationships and it made me realize that actually, the fantasy that I held as the definition of being loved is just a myth and in reality, it is deeper than the 3 words – “I love you”. It also gave some insight about how we make people depended by pretending to love them which is being selfish and not actually loving them. In fact, we don’t love our own selves if we are doing it.
Lastly, I would like to thank Brinda Ma’am and Krishna Ma’am for being such a great facilitators and bursting so many of my myths about love and opening my eyes towards actual love and how it is already there in my life in the form of my husband, my parents, few selected besties.
Thanks
Himani Mehta
“The will to extend one’s self for the purpose of nurturing one’s own and another’s spiritual growth.” – Dr. M Scott Peck.
Everyone has problems. We all know the ideal approach to solve our problems. But at times we are so tied up in our thoughts or work or any other commitment that we just react and neglect the entire process of addressing the root of the problem. We are just focused on moving on with our life. This often leads to lack of contentment. We often use the word “Love” as an escape to these problems.
The love classes helped me identify that immediate solution of a problem at hand is not the only approach. Identifying the root cause is important. Sometimes doing things for others may be categorised as love but it is just a feeling of acknowledgement that we seek. We can truly be capable of loving others only when we love ourselves.
Love is not a feeling or emotion but the actions we consciously take for our growth as well the person we are taking the action for.
I have read certain fractions from the notes given and understood some points to what love is not. I believe Love is a personal perspective that differs from person to person. The definition of love given by M. Scott Peck, “The will to extend one’s self for the purpose of nurturing one’s own or another’s spiritual growth”, sounds practical as it focuses on the selfish nature of the love as nurturing spiritual growth of one own’s as well as selfless nature wherein we are working for spiritual growth of others. However, when I introspect, I feel its important to understand that the author is a psychotherapist, where he has categorized the elements of love into some groups and his case studies only revolves around these basic elements. I believe the concept of love is really unique to oneself and to how one would like to or rather believe to attain spiritual evolution. This is because I personally feel no one can explain or generalize or even set a benchmark of how the “spiritual growth” is attained. So how is it possible that we generalize what love is and what love is not?
Nevertheless, I respect and applaud the way how Scott Peck has brought together his experience and knowledge to relate and help us understand what his perspective is towards the concept of love.
Hi all.
I would like to share my understanding till now about Love after 4 sessions of Love class.
The very first thing that was cleared well is, Love is not a mere feeling, neither an affection nor an attraction.
As Scott Peck explains, Love involves Risk, Love involves Independence, Love is Selfish, Love asks at times for Self-sacrifice, Love grows with Confrontation, Love is Desire + Action.
To understand Love, one needs to Love with Discipline, one needs to Love with Courage, one needs to Love with Understanding, one needs to Love with Knowledge.
One can truely Love only if one allows the spiritual growth of the entity whom we Love. To attain and be able to truely Love one needs to attain the same Maturity continuum about which Stephen Covey insists upon in his theory of Seven Habits.
Regards,
Percy Elavia
Love- Epsilon (2017)
At the outset, I would like to thank our facilitators Nandini ma’am and Priyanka ma’am for their efforts and patience. They both have been really kind and warm to us which actually helped us to open up and share without hesitation. I also want to thank the school and the management for conducting such trainings where an individual gets a platform to grow professionally as well as personally.
The best part, of these platforms,is that you are encouraged to share and be yourself. You are not judged but respected.
As for the sessions, I attended I got to know various perspectives of love. Like others even I have a thought process. But my experience of love in life is different. Love just comes, it is a feeling. You cannot categorize, plan or decide when to love, whom to love or how to love.
So for now I will go with my way of love as I do not really agree with Scott Peck on his perspective towards love. But I am open to more learning,more sharing and exploring.
Love classes provide a platform where we actually take a pause and redefine love. What is love and what is not love- these questions we tend to miss out, due to our busy schedules and these classes make us think that are we really in love or just bound by duties which we anyway have to do, for the sake of doing it in the name of love, care, and affection.
In our last sessions, discussions were extensively based on the book, ‘The Road Less Travelled’ by American Author- M. Scott Peck. The book was published in 1978 and was one of the best-selling books. After reading the examples and the kind of discussion that took place, I feel, indeed it’s one of the best books to understand love or real love.
The facilitators led healthy and meaningful discussion along with activities on both the days. Both Priyanka mam and Nandini mam were supportive throughout the discussions and answered our questions with utmost clarity and calmness. There was not even a single moment where I felt that the sessions were not worth.
The points I can recollect from the love classes: Falling in love is effortless which eventually fades out and one has to seek for real love which is eternal and leads to the complete well-being of an individual including spiritual growth. We, humans, long for oneness, which gives us assurance of safety, happiness, and belonging. But from the very initial stages of our life, we tend to form ego boundaries which isolate us from rest of the world and create the feeling of loneliness. Once we reach our mid-adolescents we again tend to drive for oneness and our rescue is the one we feel, we’ve fallen for. But that is very much temporary. The realization comes when arguments and expectations differ and again the ego boundaries are raised. Real love starts only when the falling in love phases out. We also discussed The Risk of Loss, The risk of Commitment, The risk of Independence and The Risk of Confrontation. So when we surpass all these risks we actually discover real love.