Love has a Million Names

The Way that can be spoken of is not the eternal Way. The name that can be name is not the eternal name. The nameless is the beginning of heaven and earth. The name is the mother of ten thousand things
--Lao Tzu, Tao te Ching

What is your name?

All of us ask this question the moment we meet someone. Meeting a new friend is an adventure to the unknown possibility of another person. At times, we fear because knowing someone else can be a threat to the private realms of our personality. It is wonderful, too, since knowing someone allows us to discover the worlds we sometimes dream of. We are lead to a possibility knowing another life, and in turn, enriching our own. The key to open this door of opportunity is the time when we know someone's name.

A person's name, as Dale Carnegie put it, is the sweetest word in his/her own language. It is the only single word that can make or break the person, or connect him/her to others. Through our names, we believe we have an identity, a reputation, a dignity to face the world. It is ironic, though, that our names cannot really be owned. There is a Filipino riddle that refers to name as something that you and others own at the same time. Such names like John or Mary are common names in the Western world, and though it is sweet to bear these names, still they are so universal that no one can take them as their own.

I feel the same way for Love.

This world has 6 billion human beings experiencing Love in different ways. Our human history has allowed us to remember the name of Love in another name, a very popular and timeless one: God. The only problem is that most of us have owned the name, as if Love cannot be called in different names but God. Naming has become a limitation. A name given for Love, such as God, has generated numerous contentions and arguments of which is a real name and which is not. However, the more we justify that Love can be called only in a single name deprives us of the immensity of how Love is taken in different names. Naming Love with a single name cannot bring us to its mysteries. Just the same as how we call God, whom we cannot define and label, Love has names as many as the stars in the sky.

Our religions speak to the infinite names of Love. Love is Suchness, Thusness, Is-ness, just as how Moses learned the name of God: Yahweh, I am that I am. Christ came to earth and proclaimed himself the Son of God, the Love that has born into humankind, the man that has become the symbol of Love. The Quran speaks about Allah bearing all beautiful names of perfection, majesty and beauty. While throughout his life the Buddha, the Awakened One, taught the Dhamma or the Truth, the Universal Law equaled to that of Love. Lao Tzu, the old sage, wrote 81 verses of his realized wisdom he called the Tao or the Way. Zen masters like Shunryu Suzuki simply teaches the Big Mind, the awareness of our true nature, the nature we call Love. Brahman in Hindu tradition is recognized as the transcendent, Divine reality, where everything is great and infinite, both qualities that refer to Love. All these, and other traditions unmentioned, speak different terms from different doctrines and practices, yet the universality of Love resonates in each name, both in God and in the concept of the Divine.

Beyond these names, our collective human experiences express Love in many words and circumstances. We seek peace in times of war, joy in times of sadness, harmony in times of conflict. We put our courage amid our fears, our enthusiasm amid weariness, our inspiration amid boredom. We call to our faiths when we are uncertain and hope when we are hopeless. We become compassionate towards others' suffering and happy towards other success. Our prayers are Love expressed in words and our Loving intentions through our thoughts. As we create, we create Love into its physical forms. Love is said in words like "wow" and "wonderful," "astounding" and "amazing."

Beyond words, we speak nonverbal names of Love whenever we smile, touch, hug, and kiss another, with all our honest hearts emanating with sincerity and comfort. Love has names unspoken yet shown as we care the sick, we serve the needy, we give the deprived. Love is to listen with a heart, to speak with gentleness, to see others without judgment. Our wishes of safety, serenity, health and wholeness are words of Love we give to others.

Love is oneness, the truth that you and I are not separate, but are always one. Love is nonviolence, when we choose to stop harming and start caring. Love is healing, allowing intentions to heal pains and weakness. Love is creativity, our inherent power to fashion our reality. Love is nature, creating forms of life that gives beauty and abundance. Love is beauty, radiating from each living being. Love is intuition, the voice of God that speaks to us. Love is Understanding, seeing things as they are. Love is freedom, the capacity to achieve one's potential and live life to the fullest. Love is innocence in the eyes of a child. Love is the Here and Now, the only time and space where we can Love. Love is conveyed in about 10,000 languages of the world, along with words related to Love. Love is unbound, unconditional, unlimited; it is indefinable, ineffable, infinite. Love are both miracles and wonders. And Love can be simply named as Love.

And what are the other names of Love? Go back home and look at your loved ones. Whatever names they have is always translated as Love. Our friends, lovers, partners, colleagues, and strangers are Love called in different names. From our radius of awareness, we now expand our understanding and realize that not even millions, but billions of people on this planet are called with names of Love. I am Love. You are Love. Love is our true name. It tells us that Love is the bearer of all names, and all names spell out Love. The name and the named are one. Everyone and everything are named and become nameless in the name of Love.