Unitarian Universalists’ view of love has much in common with ecology.  Ecology is a study of interconnectedness in nature. Religion is a human practice that values and develops our relatedness with each other and with all that is larger than ourselves.

Both ecology and religion affirm that nothing exists alone.  All things exist in interdependence, interconnection.  Therefore, relationships are the basis of being.

Even that which appears to be self-contained (a distant star, for example) is embedded in an entanglement of links and bonds that may not easily be individually known, but exist just the same.

Love is the active nurturing of relationship. This love is not just the warm and mushy feelings of pop music and romantic comedies. This love is what allows the world to exist. It holds all things together and makes existence coherent. Love is relationship at its best

The natural world reveals this to us as ecological balance among interconnected parts: the water, the air, the ground; the plants, the animals, the fungi, the microbes.  Likewise, human systems include a diversity of people and ideas that engender life and growth in a myriad of forms.

For religious communities to exist and grow, love must be shared.  Love sustains individuals, while engaging them in community.

Love is more than warm feelings. Love is the mutuality and sustainability and balance embedded in networks of relationship. We see it in humans and in animals as altruism, mutual benefit and thriving, the nurture of young, the support of mates, cooperation to learn and build.  Love is at the center of Life itself and networked throughout our entire existence.

Relationship is the essence of the Unitarian Universalist faith, and love is at its center, a love that values and respects everything it connects.

February 14, 2025