Love - not an emotion

  Many people can not love. They can not love not only enemies, but also those in whom they were in love more recently. Feelings - they are like that, they disappear. But can love disappear and how to preserve it? And most importantly - how to love the enemy / friend / neighbor?

  The first mistake that we make is an attitude towards love as an emotion. Emotions, as you probably know, are not eternal. To support any emotion in the "working" state for a long time is almost impossible.

  The second error is the attitude to love, as something purely personal. We, when we love emotionally - "privatize" a loved object, consider it our own, often deprive of freedom. Freedom of thought, including.

  But if you treat love not as an emotion, not as a noun, but as an activity, as a verb, then everything can change. Then, you can even love the enemy - in fact for this it is enough not to do evil towards him, but to do good. Just like we do to ourselves. Ultimately, our love for ourselves is not emotional, but active. This is not a feeling, but a concern.

  Similarly, you can love your neighbors, those you want to love, and so on. All this is not indisputable, but it's worth a try. After all, this is a practice, not a theory only.