I know. It’s heavy. It’s a big ask. How is it even possible? Perhaps it’s best to first look at a definition of love. In the case of loving everyone, I believe it’s about accepting everyone. I love everyone because they are fellow human beings living on this round ball, just like me. Experiencing their life with all its joys and sufferings, just like me. As Joan Halifax said on the podcast, Ten Percent Happier, “Can we hold all beings in our hearts equally?”
There’s freedom in the idea that we don’t have to like everyone. We don’t have to like what someone did or is doing, but we could try to understand that their life conditioning may be different than ours resulting in actions that may not align with ours. Believe me, I understand the challenge. I fail often. I am human. This is the thing: We do the best we can and we don’t beat ourselves up for failing. We just try to notice when we fall short and do better next time. And, we do that one million, zillion times. We don’t have to like what someone else is doing or saying. But we could try to respect them as another human being circling around on this ball we’ve named Earth, staying alive in the same way, lungs bellowing and hearts beating.
So in this context, love becomes about acceptance. Buddhist teachers talk about learning to accept someone on death row who has committed the worst of crimes by remembering that their actions are a result of what their human conditioning provided. When Nelson Mandela had his inauguration dinner as President of South Africa he asked his prison guard to join the head table. This is after, while incarcerated, he had been asked to dig a grave and lie in it while the guards urinated on him. Forgiveness. Acceptance. Love.