We use the word all the time as if we know very well what love is — what it means and what it’s all about — but, in fact, we each only have our own ideas about what love is.

But it is clear that love is important for every human being — the soul needs love in a basic and fundamental way. We are each a soul, a conscious being with capacities and needs. However, if you ask, “Why does the soul need love?” most people won’t know. They just know that they want it. They want it, or they need it. They need to have it, and they need to give it. They need to experience it. Why? It is hard to say.

In some sense, love for the soul is like oxygen for the body — it is that basic. Love is a fundamental ingredient that the soul, each and every human being,  needs for its survival and development. If the human soul does not have love, it will suffocate. It will shrivel up and die. And if love is available only in a limited way, the development of the soul will be limited as well. The soul is a living consciousness — it is not a thing — so it needs love as part of its food in order to grow, mature, and become what it can become.