How To Fulfill The Mitzvah Of Ahavas Yisroel “Love your friends as much as yourself!”

 

 

There can be two approaches in how we see other people, the first obvious approach is, that “I am me and you are you” – hence, if I see a benefit in our relationship, I am attracted to you, which is the essence of how most relationships work – but then there is a much deeper kind of relationship which we see in families – though not as deep, as will soon be explained – in families, we realize, that we all share something in common, hence as we identify with one another, a far deeper love is present – this is especially seen from parents to children, for the parent knows that the children are literally them – in other words, to the extent that we can see ourselves in another, we extend the inborn love for ourselves, to the other – hence the following contemplation (meditation – idea to cogitate until it produces an emotion) is the ultimate mechanism (coming from the last directive of the Rebbe Vayakhel 5752) to have true friendship, true love, true peace and happiness! – we must understand that we are souls – the reason we see “I am me and you are you” is because we think we are bodies – if you God-forbid took our souls from our bodies, our bodies are no more us, than the dirt we walk on – similar to, if you left your home, your previous home is no more yours than your old body – once we realize we are souls, we must understand, that of course a spirit, an energy force, which is what a soul is, like the energy of a battery that can energize a body (machine etc.) is a part of God! – now once we understand that God is one, it means that simultaneously all these “parts” are really say, like an octopuses legs, they may extend in different locations but are all one-hundred-percent part of the same body!