tell us of love

We would do an 8 to 10 week program with both men and women at various levels of security. I was particularly touched by many of the men I met there. It felt to me like many of them were tenderhearted beneath the tough exterior, so hungry for one kind word. Most of them I met had not known much compassion or tenderness in their lives. They seem to receive the smallest kindness like water to a dying plant.

One experience was one of the most moving of my entire life. We were in the middle of one of the lessons which were fairly structured. A man asked me to tell them of love. I asked him what he meant,did he mean romantic love? He’s simply repeated the question using the exact same words. Tell us of love.

My heart soared and I launched into what for me was a revelatory experience. I spoke to them of unconditional love, about their inherit nature as love, about the love that we all are. I spoke to them about giving and receiving Love. With two exceptions, it felt like the room was levitating. I felt like we were lifted into the heavens and I felt a profound unity with the men. It remains one of the most moving experiences of my life.

There was one man that I felt I could never turn my back on, there felt like there was a level of violence in him that was not being touched. And I was surprised by the other person who was my co-facilitator. He led worldwide courses on mindfulness and had written a book. I asked him how he experienced the group afterwards. I was in bliss. He said to me that he thought I had talked too much. And while I can certainly concur that I talk a lot and maybe even too much for my own good, that did not seem to be the most true thing the most alive thing about that experience, at least for me. I looked at him in astonishment and realized he had not had the same experience I had.

Yet whenever I doubt the power of love, that experience comes to heart. I believe some of us were forever altered.