Love Is Letting Those We Love Perfectly Be Themselves

I was reminded in a conversation the other day with a friend, that if we open our eyes and hearts, we always have something to learn from other people, even, and maybe especially, those of other faiths, beliefs, and creeds. In fact, if you aren’t willing to listen and learn, how strong is your own faith?

One such person I learned from, Thomas Merton, the great Roman Catholic monk and author.

“The beginning of love is the will to let those we love be perfectly themselves, the resolution not to twist them to fit our own image. If in loving them we do not love what they are, but only their potential likeness to ourselves, then we do not love them: we only love the reflection of ourselves we find in them”

― Thomas Merton, No Man Is an Island