Where Is The Love?

As a student of Nondualism or Advaita who has never had the enlightenment experience, I have decided to take a sabbatical from this area of pursuit. I stopped reading books about Nondualism or Advaita. I am currently reading mystery fiction.

By personality, I am attracted to spiritual concepts that talk about love and helping others. Lessening the pain of others. Also, I am attracted to those approaches that talk about listening to the promptings of God, such as the Quaker approach.

By profession, I have worked for years for both governmental and nonprofit human service agencies that have helped children and adults with developmental disabilities or mental illness.

I am recently struggling with how Nondualism or Advaita pertains to love and helping others. I understand from the many books and years I have studied in this area about the impact of seeing Reality as it is.

But I guess I am questioning the value of seeing Reality as it is vs. loving and helping others. I do understand that this is not an either this or that answer — that some people who on seeing Reality as it is experience unboundless love and that others do not.

Besides Nondualism or Advaita, I am sure there are other approaches that lead to seeing Reality as it is. And that the other approaches start with loving and helping others. By personality, I may be looking more in this direction than Nondualism and Advaita.

Anyhow, this has been on my mind recently.