Do we all know what love is? Do we all know what unconditional means? If you can come close to understanding , even if it is just something so tenuous in the back of your mind that you just might not be sure... be assured... you know.

Love is not so great a mystery that we should find ourselves trying to explain it and quantifying it. We know when we are loved and we know when we are not.
We know when we love someone and we know when we do not.

I am not speaking of lust or infatuation. Those things do not come close to what love is. Loving another is not about what you receive . Loving another is simply giving yourself. All that you are. It can never be about what you can get.
If you are fortunate to find yourself beginning to love someone and you ask yourself " what can i gain from this relationship ?" than I would ask you to think long and hard about why you believe you think you are being loving.

When I love you and you tell me you do not love me , do I stop loving you ? If i say yes than my love was given with conditions. Is that love that any one of us really wants ?
If I believe that you love me , I want to know that I can totally screw up and leave you
completely disappointed in me . Each of us , has it it within us to totally screw up and disappoint those that love us. If I become fearful that I will "lose" your love if I act wrongly than I must believe your love comes with conditions. Is that what we really want? I want to love and be loved.

I did not say " I want to love and be loved in return " I do love. Those that I love will receive all that I am . They do not need to give me anything. Not even their love. They can lie to me , they can abuse me , they can tell me that they have never loved me and i will still love them. Does this sound hard ? Is it really possible to love someone that way?
Yes to both questions. To love another unconditionally is the hardest thing you will ever do. No conditions means absolutely no conditions. When you get to the point (and I hope you will) that you can honestly say that you love another unconditionally, you will wonder how you could love any other way.