Love is a force of nature. However much we may want to, we cannot command, demand, or disappearlove, any more than we can command the moon and the stars and the wind and therain to come and go according to our whims. We may have some limited ability tochange the weather, but we do so at the risk of upsetting an ecological balancewe don't fully understand. Similarly, we can stage a seduction or mount acourtship, but the result is more likely to be infatuation, or two illusionsdancing together, than love.Love is bigger than you are. You caninvite love, but you cannot dictate how, when, and where love expresses itself.You can choose to surrender to love, or not, but in the end love strikes likelightening, unpredictable and irrefutable. You can even find yourself lovingpeople you don't like at all. Love does not come with conditions, stipulations,addendums, or codes. Like the sun, love radiates independently of our fears anddesires.Love is inherently free. It cannotbe bought, sold, or traded. You cannot make someone love you, nor can youprevent it, for any amount of money. Love cannot be imprisoned nor can it belegislated. Love is not a substance, not a commodity, nor even a marketablepower source. Love has no territory, no borders, no quantifiable mass or energyoutput.One can buy sex  Sexual stimulation andgratification, whether by way of fingers, mouths, objects, fantasy play, whipsand chains, or just plain intercourse, can certainly be bought and sold, not tomention used to sell other things. Whether sex should be for sale is anotherquestion entirely, but love itself cannot be sold.One can buy loyalty, companionship,attention, perhaps even compassion, but love itself cannot be bought. An  can be bought, but love cannot. It comes,or not, by grace, of its own will and in its own timing, subject to no human'splanning.Love cannot be turned on as areward. It cannot be turned off as a punishment Onlysomething else pretending to be love can be used as a lure, as a hook, for baitand switch, imitated, insinuated, but the real deal can never be delivered ifit doesn't spring freely from the heart.This doesn't mean that love allowsdestructive and abusive behaviors to go unchecked. Love speaks out for justiceand protests when harm is being done. Love points out the consequences ofhurting oneself or others. Love allows room for anger, grief, or pain to beexpressed and released. But love does not threaten to withhold itself if itdoesn't get what it wants. Love does not say, directly or indirectly, "Ifyou are a bad boy, Mommy won't love you anymore." Love does not say,"Daddy's little girl doesn't do that." Love does not say, "Ifyou want to be loved you must be nice, or do what I want, or never love anyoneelse, or promise you'll never leave me."Love cares what becomes of youbecause love knows that we are all interconnected. Love is inherentlycompassionate and empathic. Love knows that the "other" is alsooneself. This is the true nature of love and love itself cannot be manipulatedor restrained. Love honors the sovereignty of each soul. Love is its own law. //Druidsxiv