“Sometimes I think the animal most closely related to the human being is a mollusk. We carry this calcified exterior, capable of warding off danger and protecting us from the elements. But turn us around, and there is the soft, vulnerable underbelly that we need to keep hidden: that we feel is our greatest weakness.

I think love is when you reveal your soft underbelly. And another reveals theirs. And like that cold Brooklyn night fifteen years ago, you bring the two of them together. To touch each other. To be open with each other, and to protect each other.   And in this way, both are free. And both are safe. And in this moment, eternity isn’t such a long time at all.

…

Every day in our lives we are asked to commit acts of courage. We must face down the outside enemies of oppression, violence, sexism, racism, terrorism.  We must face down the inside enemies  of fear, lust for power, impatience,  insecurity, hatred, and anger.  To do this every day, when there is such compelling evidence to suggest that we are fucked, that everything is fucked, takes courage.  I believe now,  in my life, I have one source of courage, and one source only.

That source is love.

When I am guided by love, I have no choice but to harness the power of everything I am made of and use it to help contribute to a kinder, safer, stronger and more loving human experience for us all.  When I am guided by love, it reduces fear and its cousin depression to mere ideas. Memories from a long ago dream.  And when my soft, vulnerable, fearful, shameful underbelly is held free and close to yours, then I am guided by love.”

(from: http://transform.transformativechange.org/2011/12/9831/)