Is there a difference between love and 'true' love? I'm so guilty of yearning for a fair-tale type of love, but I wonder, does it even eist? I think it does. I think it creates the difference between simply love and true love.
When you love someone so much you want to burst, you give yourself over fully to the emotion. It is about communication, being at peace with yourself, not judging, not wanting to change a person, being happy with yourself. True love is acceptance of yourself and the person you love. You can love many people, and many things, but if you don't acquire acceptance and surrender, you won't truly love. There can be no opposite. For some reason, every time I have loved, it seems to have been 'true' love. I think I'm just accepting by nature.
If your partner is still identified with the mind and the pain-body while you are already free, this will represent a major challenge - not to you but to your partner. It is not easy to live with an enlightened person, or rather it is so easy that the ego finds it extremely threatening. Remember that the ego needs problems, conflict, and "enemies" to strengthen the sense of separateness on which its identity depends. The unenlightened partner's mind will be deeply frustrated because its fixed positions are not resisted, which means they will become shaky and weak, and there is even the "danger" that they may collapse altogether, resulting in loss of self. The pain-body is demanding feedback and not getting it. The need for argument, drama, and conflict is not being met. But beware: Some people who are unresponsive, withdrawn, insensitive, or cut off from their feelings may think and try to convince others that they are enlightened, or at least that there is "nothing wrong" with them and everything wrong with their partner. Men tend to do that more than women. They may see their female partners as irrational or emotional. But if you can feel your emotions, you are not far from the radiant inner body just underneath. If you are mainly in your head, the distance is much greater, and you need to bring consciousness into the emotional body before you can reach the inner body.
