Only if love was enough. Enough to bear the weight of anger, take the agony of hurt, soothe the turmoil of loss and ease the angst of pain. Love the most complete emotion, is sometimes, just, not enough. Even though, love is, the touch of the Divine, in the human soul. The emotion that can change the course of life. But sometimes, love, just isn’t enough. Why isn’t love enough? The empowering, overpowering emotion, touch of the Divine in our soul, isn’t enough, when we try to justify our wrongs with it. We hurt someone’s feelings, break their heart, say painful things, keep taking and not giving, and then, sully love, by saying, “but i love you”. That’s when love isn’t enough. It’s then, that Divine emotion, gets mired, by the ugliness of human hypocrisy. The purest touch in the human soul, gets manipulated, using its beauty to mask the ugly truth. History tells us it’s the emotion that launched a thousand ships (Helen of Troy). But what did it get troy, it’s downfall. It made Henry the 8th behead 8 queens, all in the name of love. So many ghosts in the annals of history rise up to tell you, this is when love, just wasn’t enough. But if you flip the coin, this same emotion, makes a mother jump in front a moving train, to save her child, makes the lover forsake the world, just to be with his beloved, lays to rest a thousand years of enmity, when applied in its most purest form. Even the desert gives testimony of love, by sprouting a million flowers, from the sandy earth, with just a touch of rain. That’s when love is, all enough. The touch of the Divine, in the human soul, in its purest form. Let’s say, let’s lay love to rest – this one powerful, beautiful emotion. Because it has been bandied around far too long. Misused, manipulated and misunderstood by man. Using it to tie someone, in the bonds of love, by simply saying ‘I love you’. Not understanding love doesn’t tie you, but sets you free. It is the oxygen of life, not a chain, that weighs you down for the rest of your life. This stark naked emotion, naked because it doesn’t need any dressing, doesn’t need any covering, is sadly, the most lied about emotion of all. The touch of the divine in the human soul, is conveniently used to cover our half hearted attempts at love. Love can’t be half hearted, it has to be all, or nothing. Love recognises love. It’s the first emotion a child feels, when he recognises the warmth of his mother’s arms, it’s the first, breathtaking emotion, when two people fall in love. It’s the emotion by which you recognise the one and only and see His love in all He’s created, with such tender care. That is the touch of the divine in the human soul. Setting you free, to bloom, to grow, to nurture and to be nurtured, to be truly yourself. That is when love is, all, enough. Omnipotent and ever present this emotion, only becomes, not enough, when man robs it of its divinity. And dresses it up with his needs, his wishes, his wants, and calls this man made emotion, ‘love’. That is, when love, just isn’t enough. Published in Daily Times, March 9th 2018.