What is closest to love?

What is closest to love? Soul warmth, care and attention, readiness to help and sacrifice, the ability to be sincere and peaceful. A young man fully opens up to his beloved girl. He discards greed, hypocrisy, selfishness; he doesn't lie; he doesn't feel superior to his beloved. He gives her flowers and gifts. He shows that he can sacrifice everything for her, even his life. He demonstrates attention and care, showing constant willingness to help. At the same time, he doesn't lose his dignity and doesn't grovel at her feet. The young man constantly thinks about his beloved. In his soul, there is a constant feeling of gratitude for her presence in the world. He wants to make her happy.

Love has many faces, like a tree with many branches, but one trunk. If a young man shows patience, care, compassion, selflessness, and joy in any situation, his feelings do not fade or turn into attachment. On the contrary, the feeling becomes finer, more independent, and more enduring. This feeling makes both him and the girl he loves happy. Girls often appear unapproachable to encourage young men to prove their love and confirm it with their behavior.

We are accustomed to repeating during prayer that we love God. But in reality, we need to prove our love to God every day, not just mumble various affirmations under our breath. Love for God is demonstrated by following commandments, overcoming selfishness, greed, anger, and lust, abstaining from pleasures, being able to sacrifice and care for others, and being happy both in joy and sorrow.

By the way, scientists conducted an interesting experiment. They selected young men and women and randomly paired them, then asked them to cross a river on a suspension bridge. In one case, the bridge was shaky and seemed likely to collapse. In another case, the bridge looked much more reliable. As a result, it turned out that romantic relationships were much more likely to develop between those young men and women who crossed the river on the dangerous bridge. The threat to life, on one hand, forces a person to detach, and on the other hand, pushes towards love. The sense of danger is a powerful stressor that triggers a huge surge of energy in the body. This energy is directed not only towards protecting one's own life but also towards uniting people, strengthening relationships.

What we call unity, mutual understanding, harmony in relationships is actually the result of high energy exchange between close people. In believers, its level is higher. In selfish, envious, angry people, i.e., consumers, the energy is lower, and harmony in relationships is less.

S.N. Lazarev, «Survival Experience 1»