Love calls to us in many different ways. Yet while most people seek for love in the tangle of human relationships, the mystic is drawn deeper under the surface—

Every one of us yearns for love, whether openly or secretly. The quest for affection is one of humanity's most fundamental drives. Although we might shield this desire behind walls of self-protection or portray an image of self-sufficiency, it remains a constant presence, regardless of whether it is masked or acknowledged. Typically, we pursue love through our relationships, projecting our needs onto parents, partners, friends, and lovers. The absence or rejection of love can create emotional scars that we carry with us throughout life. This unfulfilled longing often becomes a haunting presence, sometimes leading us to seek solace in addictions or other harmful behaviors. Conversely, when our need for love is fulfilled, we experience a profound sense of nourishment within our very core.

in Rumi’s words, “return to the root of the root of your own being.”

Here we embark on unveiling one of life’s most profound secrets: the understanding that love is the foundation of all that exists; it is the essence from which everything springs. Love transcends mere emotion shared between individuals; it embodies a substance, an energy, a divine spark that pervades all things. This fundamental essence—this substance of love—is what we must cultivate to sustain us.

Love speaks to our soul and to our body. Love embraces all the senses—taste and touch, smell, sight and sound. Love is all-emcompassing. It does not just belong to a human relationship. It can be found anywhere because it is everywhere. The mystic reveals the simple secret that in truth love flows through all that exists—sweet, tender, aching, knowing, as well as dark and passionate. And this most primal energy, the most potent force, awakens within us, within our heart, our soul, and even within the cells of our body, it beckons us to delve deeper into its intricate mystery.

 Love continually guides us back to love. And here we discover the oneness of love—that the source and answer to our primal need is not separate from us, but part of our

essential nature, our true being.

Again, to quote Rumi:

Love is life’s greatest gift. We seek for love, and yet it is all around and within us. It belongs to the oneness of life, to every dewdrop on every leaf, to the spider spinning its web, the child looking at the stars.

If we open our senses and open our hearts, we can feel its presence. Love is life speaking to us of its real mystery.  In that conversation, countless possibilities emerge, and so many miracles can take flight—those subtle, often unnoticed marvels: a fleeting ray of sunshine filtering through clouds, a flower blooming unexpectedly from a seed, a stranger’s smile. Despite the distortions, pain, and suffering that abound, this world is ultimately governed by love, just as each of us is intimately connected to it. Simply recognizing our place within this love is enough.

To learn to love is to learn to live, to engage in the grand love affair that is life itself. Just as love is the precious gift of existence, it is also the singular, true gift we each have to offer.