When I was young, I never liked how people used the word God.

Living in a disproportionately Christian society, people talked of God like he was a supernatural white guy with a beard on a cloud in the sky. And although he seemed to have unlimited power and wisdom, he spent his free time hating gays and lesbians for being themselves, women for getting abortions, and pretty much everyone for masturbating.

It was not until years later, when the physical practice of yoga opened my mind back up to the beauty of the world’s spiritual practices, that I came across this passage from John 4.7-4.8,

Beloved, let us love one another, for love is from God, and whoever loves has been born of God and knows God. Anyone who does not love does not know God, because God is love.

This message—that God is love and we know God through love—not only resonated with me, it felt deeply, undeniably true. It felt right.

In fact, it felt less like I was learning something new and more like I was being reminded of something I forgot long ago.

I realized I had been missing a key and important part of religious life, and that beneath all I was resisting, there was the undeniable truth of the power of love.

The Unifying Path of Love

In the years following, I soon discovered love in more and more places. I realized the text I found was not a catch, but that the path of love was repeated time and time again by later Christian writers and teachers.

As St. Paul wrote in the Corinthians,

If I have prophetic powers, and understand all mysteries and all knowledge, and if I have all faith, so as to remove mountains, but have not love, I am nothing.

That’s right: without love, your faith is nothing. Without love, your wisdom is nothing, your great theological understanding is useless or even worse, has the potential to create great harm.

As my studies continued, I found that love was both the means and the ends. It is our guiding force from within and the light shining at the end of the tunnel. The spiritual path of love is our work in the world and what gives meaning to our lives.

The 12th Century Christian Theologian and mystic Meister Eckhart emphasized, “the most necessary work is always love.”

The Spiritual Path of Love

Time and time again, I found that the spiritual path, when broken down to its true essence, is the path of love. When we go beyond the dogma and institutions and rote rituals, we find kindness, caring, and compassion. This applies beyond just Christianity and in fact, to all beliefs.

The passage above from John 4.7-4.8 mirrors exactly what Krishna told Arjuna on the battlefield in the Bhagavad Gita, “The way of love leads sure and swift to me.” Similarly in the Hindu Shvetashvatara Upanishad, we are told that “The Lord of Love is one,” and that love is the unifying thread that binds us all together.

2500 years ago in the DhammaPada, The Buddha told us to train our minds in love. More recently, the Christian Leader Samuel Rahberg (inspired by the Buddhist meditation teacher Jack Kornfield) reminded us that, “the spiritual life is not about knowing much, but about loving much.”

The spiritual path of love is repeated time and time again across countless spiritual and religious teachings, and espoused by its followers who truly understand what is being taught. The Dalai Lama himself, for example, has said not everyone is meant to be a Buddhist and that his true religion is kindness.

The Religion of Kindness

So no matter what text, writing, teacher, leader, guru, God, Goddess, deity, or devata you believe in, understand the singular unity behind it all is love. It is our deepest calling.

If we are to heal our relationships and our society, we must begin with our love. Martin Luther King, Mother Teresa, Mahatma Gandhi, great saints and sages have taught us that kindness is the vehicle to peace.

In fact, one of Gandhi’s favorite hymns from the Hindu tradition comes from the saint and poet Narsinha Mehta, who wrote The Real Lovers of God,  which goes,

They are the real lovers of God
Who feel others’ sorrow as their own.
When they perform selfless service,
They are humble servants of the Lord.
Respecting all, despising none,
They are pure in thought, word, and deed.
Blessed is the mother of such a child,
And in their eyes the Divine Mother
Shines in every woman they see.
They are always truthful, even-minded,
Never coveting others’ wealth,
Free from all selfish attachments,
Ever in tune with the Holy Name.
Their bodies are like sacred shrines
In which the Lord of Love is seen.
Free from greed, anger, and fear,
These are the real lovers of God.

If you are wondering which religion to believe in, make your religion kindness. If you are wondering what spiritual path to take, take the path of love.

If you are wondering if you are on the right path, simply ask yourself, “am I moving towards love or fear?” If you’re looking for who to learn from, ask yourself if they are promoting love. Are they accepting of all peoples, in all places, of all races, genders, sexualities, backgrounds, and histories? If not, keep looking.

Living in Love

If you have been hesitant to go deeper into any religion, look for the teacher and leaders living in love. You might have to search far to find someone who truly knows love, because in the words of Kabir, “few there are who know it fully.”

Look for those like Saint Thérèse of Lisieux, who wrote the long poem, Living in Love,

Divine Flame, O very sweet Blaze!
I make my home in your hearth.
In your fire I gladly sing:
“I live on Love.”

Look for the poets who shout love from the rooftops. Look for the leaders who help you to find the courage live from the heart.

Living in love means living from the heart, not the mind, and in our cognitive-centric world, living in love is a radical, if not revolutionary, act. It is, in the words of Rilke, “the work for which all other work is merely preparation.”