“The lover presupposes that love is in the other person’s hearts, and by this very presupposition he builds up love in him-from the ground up, insofar as in love he presupposes it present at the ground.”- Soren Kierkegaard (Works of Love, 206)
Kierkegaard states in Works of Love, that truly loving your neighbor (neighbor= every person) involves sacrificing yourself and loving without preference. It is simple when the other person loves you back and treats you with loving kindness and compassion, but when the other dehumanizes you and treats you poorly, the challenge arises. The task of loving those who hurt you takes a toll on your emotions. Treating them the way they treat you can feel good, and loving them can feel burdensome. But, true liberation lies in the spread of your compassion to the uncompassionate.
In Living Buddha Living Christ, Thich Nhat Hanh writes,
A farmer looking at his land in winter can already see his crop, because he knows that all of the conditions are there – land, seeds, water, fertilizer, farm equipment, and so on—except one, warm weather, and that will come in a matter of months. So it would be inaccurate to say his crop does not exist.
He then elaborates on how the crop only needs one more element to manifest, but it still nevertheless exists. This relates to Kierkegaard’s notion of presupposing love in a person. Despite wrongdoings and harmful words/actions, love still exists in a person; it just needs to manifest. The person lacks an element, and this element would cause it to manifest its own love. The crop lacks light, and sometimes we also lack light. A loved person loves. Said person could be lacking compassion or understanding from others, clouding their will to love. Spreading understanding, loving kindness, and compassion to those who do not spread these elements themselves can inspire them to start loving others truly. But to do this, one must presuppose love in them. If we assume they cannot or do not have love in them, we develop a prejudice and our actions start to pity the person instead of inspire. People can sense when others act without an intention to guide or help them along their path, and this can cause them to take all they can get from the other person in fear they will never come back. With the presupposition of love in the person, we can implement hope for a brighter future in them, and they will use the love we express to manifest the love that resides in them.
Throughout our lives, we learn the importance of faith. Whether it is faith in a supreme being, in success, or in other people, faith plays a vital role in our daily lives. Faith that ourselves and others will make the right choice emanates hope and love. To truly have faith, we cannot solely have faith in a supreme being, but also faith in human beings. We all possess love. With this knowledge of inherent love, we can inspire others to touch that imbedded love and bring it forth out in the world.
