LOVE

What is Love?

Osho : It depends. There are as many
loves as there are people. Love is a hierarchy, from the lowest
rung to the highest, from sex to superconsciousness. There are
many many layers, many planes of love. It all depends on you. If
you are existing on the lowest rung, you will have a totally
different idea of love than the person who is existing on the
highest rung. Adolf Hitler will have one idea of love, Gautam
Buddha another; and they will be
diametrically opposite, because they are at two extremes.

At the lowest, love is a kind of politics, power politics.
Wherever love is contaminated by the idea of domination, it is
politics. Whether you call it politics or not is not the
question, it is political. And millions of people never know
anything about love except this politics -- the politics that
exists between husbands and wives, boyfriends and girlfriends.
It is politics, the whole thing is political: you want to
dominate the other, you enjoy domination.
And love is nothing but politics sugar-coated, a bitter pill
sugar-coated.
You talk about love but the deep desire is to exploit the other.
And I am not saying that you are doing it deliberately or
consciously. People are falling in love with horses, dogs,
animals, machines, things. Why? Because to be in love with human
beings has become an utter hell, a continuous conflict --
nagging, always at each other's throats. This is the lowest form
of love. Nothing is wrong with it if you can use it as a
steppingstone , if you can use it as a meditation.
If you can watch it, if you try to understand it, in that very
understanding you will reach another rung, you will start moving
upwards. Only at the highest peak, when love is not a
relationship any more, when love becomes a
state of your being, the lotus opens totally and great perfume
is released -- but only at the highest peak. At its lowest, love
is just a political relationship. At its highest, love is a
religious state of consciousness. I love you too, Buddha loves,
Jesus loves, but their love demands nothing in return.