Weekend self-care open thread: Love

From the Quran, Sura 107:1-7:

Have you considered him who denies the religion?
It is he who mistreats the orphan.
And does not encourage the feeding of the poor.
So woe to those who pray.
Those who are heedless of their prayers.
Those who put on the appearance.
And withhold the assistance.

From the Gospel According to Matthew, 22:34-40:

But when the Pharisees had heard that he had put the Sadducees to silence, they were gathered together.
Then one of them, which was a lawyer, asked him a question, tempting him, and saying,
Master, which is the great commandment in the law?
Jesus said unto him, Thou shalt love the Lord thy God with all thy heart, and with all thy soul, and with all thy mind.
This is the first and great commandment.
And the second is like unto it, Thou shalt love thy neighbour as thyself.
On these two commandments hang all the law and the prophets.

From Rabbi Hillel:

What is hateful to thee, thou shalt not do unto thy neighbor. This is the whole of the Law, the rest is only commentary.

The three great monotheistic traditions all have love of the Other as their greatest commandments. In these times, when we're torn apart with strife and recrimination, going back to and learning from those wisdom teachings would not be a bad way to deal with our troubles.

No, I'm not religious. But I'd be lying if I said I didn't draw succor from the wisdom which came before me. And that's how I see these traditions: not as holy writ, but as the product of fallible human beings trying to make sense of a nonsensical world. They try to bring order and peace to disorder and chaos. They try to make us see beyond our own immediate concerns.

Do I live up to these words? Of course not. Few people do. But it's in the trying that we approach the Divine.

As a species, we glory in conflict. But, as a species, we also recognize that a life of conflict is no fit life for human beings. As we continue in these unprecedented times, remember that we can be better than what we are, if we really want to be.

Take care of yourselves, and those around you.