The test of love

Some authors have a way with words which opens up minds and imaginations. What is writing if it is not a force to power the feelings and emotions out of oneself and onto paper to read and contemplate. Every writer writing is not only the learned but also the seeker....contradictory perhaps but true nevertheless. Each word which comes out of the pen is not his/her own but of a greater force which uses the writer as a medium to tell the world about the great unknown...yet it is surprising that even though reams have been written about the emotions which connect each individual;we are still at loggerheads and unable to understand that which is clear and shinning. Maybe that's the curse of Cassandra and the others who were touched by the great unknown. It made things which were supposedly clear hard to understand and harder still to follow.
The basic emotion of love is the hardest to speak about and harder still to follow. God made man in his image and told him to love his fellow beings yet that is the most  impossible thing to do.If god is love and he is the one who has made us then where is the problem of following his diktat. It is because Love as an emotion is fairly strong and impossibly convoluted. The feeling of Love is the simplest when one is a wee infant but it changes force as one grows older and interacts with others. Things start unravelling as soon as one starts over thinking.
Marriage between two people .,sanctified by the society has its origin not in love but in  a basic urge to survive and ensure that the species goes forward. We actually don't want to go the dinosaur way so...marry and multiply. But how many people are happy with the person chosen ,if you ask me no one.Everywhere there's a comparison between the person standing next to you and the person on the opposite side of the track.The proverb holds true : the grass is always greener on the other side. Rarely if at all does a marriage become a union of two people so much so that they become one single entity. The rest unfortunately just lumber along; alone and scared .
When two different individuals come together to be able to talk to each other about their feelings,fears,inhibitions and ambitions;love stands and observes. To be able to love another unconditionally one has to love oneself unconditionally....and therein lies the test.Not many like the face that peeps from the mirror. There's always something pathetically wrong in one's reflection but how many think that the mirror never takes sides.It shows what is and nothing else. It takes courage of a different kind to look into the mirror and accept what is shown and harder still to give thanks for the same. Loving oneself involves accepting flaws and that makes the test even more tough. Accepting what we are and acknowledging that we might be flawed helps one be at peace and also allows one to see the others for what they are. Mistakes and faults in ourselves is magnified when we attribute the same qualities to the other person. With them we are more strict because the faults that we have hidden away in our souls glare out menacingly in theirs.
What then is the right path to love? Not several as I think but just one . Loving oneself with the faults and allowing ourselves to love others with their faults.