"Our love must not be limited to those who are near to us. The divine purpose of close relationships is to expand that love. Nature breaks the ties of family life only to teach us that the love we give our family needs to be extended also to our neighbors, our friends, our country, and to all nations. One who does not love his family cannot love his neighbor or his country. One who does not first love his country cannot learn to love all countries.
"Love is a condition of the mind and heart which essentially transcends all relationships. We should worship God above all through all these relationships. God can be loved as Father, Mother, Master, Friend, or the Divine Beloved of all hearts.
"Love must never remain circumscribed in littleness. Through the gates of friendship, conjugal affection, parental love, and the love of one's fellow beings and of all animate creatures, we can enter into the kingdom of Divine Love. Pure love does not come by talking, but by culturing it gradually in the soil of an ever-increasing, ever-expanding feeling of sympathy and friendship toward all existence.
"That person who has never loved anyone in particular can never love all humanity. One who has never loved his fellow beings, and even birds and animals, can never love God. Only in the soil of the heart where human love grows can divine love grow."
