case. That what is given to others is taken from us. Whoever feels
attachment demands, obliges and forces feelings. People with
attachment always expect something in exchange for what they do.
They are very keen to demand, to receive and only give through self-
interest, with the condition that first they are given what they have
requested. Also through attachment we can harm our own free will
and force ourselves to do things that we do not feel. Whoever feels
true love gives unconditionally and allows their feelings to be free. They
neither oblige nor force, nor demand anything in exchange from the
person whom they love.
An example would be useful to clarify the differences for me.
Alright. Imagine that two people, who say that they love birds, meet.
The first person has them living in beautiful golden cages, in an air-
conditioned room. This person gives them high quality food and
bottled spring water and takes them periodically to the vet. The
second person simply takes food to the park for the birds, caresses
them when they settle on them, and takes care of them when they are
wounded and they cannot fly. The first person says: How much I love
my birds! I spend a fortune on them so that they can have all the
comforts that they would not have if they lived in the wild! But they last
such a short time! They are always ill and no matter how much I spend
on medicines and on vets they die prematurely. They make me suffer
so much! What can I do?
The second person says: The birds that I take care of do not belong to
me. They are not locked up in cages, but live in freedom. I am happy
because I know that they are not forced to be with me by the bars of
a cage, but because they have chosen this freely. I am happy
because I see them living as they wish, flying in freedom. Your birds, my
friend, die of sorrow, because they are not free. Open your cages so
that they can fly in freedom and they will live because they will be
free, because they will be happy. The first one replies “If I open the
cage they will escape and I will never see them again!” The second
replies “If they escape, it is because they have been retained against
their will and they move away from what is for them a life of slavery. My
birds do not flee from me, because they know that they are free to
come and go as they please. On the contrary, when they see me
arrive at the park they approach immediately, they surround me and
they perch on me”. The first one says: “What you have is what I want,
for my birds to love me.” The second one says: “You will never obtain
what you want by force. You have overwhelmed them with comforts
to try to compensate them for the lack of what they long for most, to
fly in freedom. If you really love them, let them live their life in