Breaking the Barriers to Love

“Your task is not to seek for love, but merely to seek and find all the barriers within yourself that you have built against it.”   ―   Rumi

It’s very easy to go through life isolating yourself within the comforts of the people that you can effortlessly love.  Don’t get me wrong, that’s a wonderful place to be.  It’s safe, nourishing, comfortable and allows for growth through support and assistance.  But what Rumi is addressing in the above quote are the lost opportunities for love that we have in our lives which are discarded due to a barrier or barriers of our own creation.  Granted, some of these barriers are insurmountable and when it comes to safety are better left in place.  However there are also many barriers that can be overcome once recognized and addressed.

While we’re relaxing in the sun drenched meadow of relationships with all of the people who for us loving comes easily, it can be very difficult to get up and venture into a less pastoral area of our life that might require getting rather dirty.  It can also be something that we simply lose sight of while enjoying the splendor of relationships that are so satisfying.  But what’s being recognized and addressed in Rumi’s quote is the “potential” for loving relationships that can be realized.  Relationships that have a capacity for love that can be shared but for it being held captive by obstructions of our own that can be overcome.

Rumi uses the word “seek” which means to consciously look for.  You decide to seek out something.  So what he’s saying is that we have to make a conscious decision to look for and find the barriers that are blocking our ability to love an individual.  If we can identify and destroy those barriers or find a way to cause them to fall away, then the only thing that’s left standing regarding your relationship with that individual, is love.