In “The Law of Love and The Law of Violence”, Leo Tolstoy quotes the Sermon on the Mount: “Ye have heard that it was said, Thou shall love thy neighbor, and hate thine enemy: (Lev. xix, 17, 18.) but I say unto you, Love your enemies, and pray for them….”
Writing this some time before World War I broke out, Tolstoy goes on to advise us that “it is this law of love and its recognition as a rule of conduct in all our relations with friends, enemies, offenders, etc. which inevitably brings about the complete transformation of the existing order of things….among all the populations of the globe.”
In a letter to his brother, Theo, written on 3rd April 1878, Vincent van Gogh writes: “Love is the best and most noble thing in the human heart.”
He tells us that in loving “lies true strength” — “he who loves much does much and is capable of much, and that which is done with love is well done.”
In 1897, Swami Vivekananda exhorted an audience in Chennai (“The Complete Works of Swami Vivekananda”) : “First, feel from the heart. What is in the intellect or reason? It goes a few steps and there it stops. But through the heart comes inspiration. Love opens the most impossible gates; love is the gate to all the secrets of the universe.”
Peace 🙂
The sketch of Vincent is by Shreya Dutta — a young person with a heart of gold, and (i use words from Coldplay) “a head full of dreams.”