For many years, I have been making students aware of the Chinese character for Love. The top stroke in the character inspires us to reach high to connect with a higher consciousness. Just below, the three short strokes invite us to collect the energy and, with the wide stroke, to open the ‘gateway’ into our being. Now we can connect universal energy with our own heart, by using these four important strokes:
Universal energy flows into our being and we move with it, as represented by the lower strokes in the character for love. As you can see, the whole character for love is visibly formed around the character for heart.
“Love” was stripped of the character for “heart”, while the rest of the strokes remained. Changes like this can deeply affect human sensibility. Simply put: how can you have LOVE without HEART?
In lectures, seminars and speaking engagements around the world, I have consistently surprised audiences with demonstration of the contrast between the Chinese character for love written with the symbol for “heart” in the center, and the simplified version without the “heart.” The simplified version has become so ingrained in contemporary Chinese culture that during visits to mainland China or Taiwan, Chinese audiences – adults and children alike – are visibly astonished when they are made aware of the difference.
Meanwhile, during our many visits to China, we in turn have been stunned to learn that the art of brush calligraphy is no longer being taught to children in schools. We are in danger of losing this most beautiful and indispensable cultural art form and tradition. It is our wish to bring “Heart into Love” again by helping young Chinese students learn the art of brush calligraphy and with it, to learn the traditional way of writing LOVE with HEART.