According to the Sufis, for example, the feelings we have for family, friends, and lovers are all aspects of divine love. The narrowest affection can lead us to compassion for all, even to the universal mystery they call the Beloved. In an essay entitled "My Heart Can Take on Any Appearance," the Islamic sage Ibn El-Arabi proclaimed the highest love to be "like the love of lovers, except that instead of loving the phenomenon, I love the Essential. A purpose of human love is to demonstrate ultimate, real love." Whether high romance or familial cuddling, simple affection or mad crushes, maybe all are prismatic beams of one transforming light.
— Marc Ian Barasch, Field Notes on the Compassionate Life