What is love?

Where there is motive can love exist? And where there is ambition, whether in the physical world, or in the psychological world - ambition to be on top of everything, to be a great success, to have power, religiously, or physically, where there is aggression, competitiveness, jealousy, can love exist? Obviously not. But yet, we recognise it cannot exist and yet we go on. Look what happens to our brain when we are playing such kinds of tricks. I say, ‘I love you’, I have a motive behind that love. I am ambitious, I want to be spiritually next to god - especially on his right hand! (Laughter) I want to achieve illumination - you know, all that deception. You cannot achieve illumination. You cannot possibly achieve that which is beyond time.

But that is our constant endeavour, psychologically. So I am ambitious, competitive, conforming, jealous, fearful, hating, all that is going on psychologically, inwardly. Either we are conscious of it, or deliberately avoiding it. And yet I say to my wife or father, whatever it is, ‘I love you’. So what happens when there is such deep contradiction in my life, in my relationship? How can that contradiction have any sense of deep integrity? You are following all this? And yet this is what we are doing all the time.

So can there be no ambition and yet live in this world - go to the office, factory, being a shop steward - oh, you may not know that word - in England - the ambition of a guru - you understand? Can one live in this world without ambition, without competition? There is competition between various nations, which is taking place, please look at it, for god’s sake, what is happening in the world! The politicians are competing with each other, economically, technologically, in the instruments of war. They are competing and so destroying ourselves. We allow this to go on because we are also inwardly competitive. And we realise the politicians are never going to solve a thing. But if we are totally responsible for ourselves and have this deep integrity then we’ll affect the consciousness of the world.

If a few of us really understand this whole movement of what we have been talking about for the last sixty years, and if a few of us are really, deeply involved and have brought about the end of fear, sorrow and so on, it will affect the whole consciousness of mankind. You are doubtful whether it will affect the consciousness of mankind. Hitlers have affected the consciousness of mankind. Right? Napoleon, the Caesars, the butchers of the world have affected mankind.

And also the good people have affected mankind. I mean good people, not respectable people, but the ‘good’ being those who live a life wholly, not fragmented. And the great teachers of the world have affected human consciousness. Individuals have affected human consciousness. But if there were a group of people who’ve understood all this, what we have been talking about, not verbally but actually live that life with great integrity, then it will affect the whole consciousness of man. This is not a theory, this is an actual fact. Because great warriors have affected mankind. If you understand that simple fact you will see it goes right through: television, newspapers, everything is affecting the consciousness of man.

So love cannot exist where there is a motive, where there is attachment, where there is ambition and competitiveness, and love is not desire and pleasure. Just feel that, see it.