(And what kind of love are we actually talking about?)

“All you need is love,” as All You Need Is Love famously goes.

It’s a lovely line. Catchy. Memorable.
And if we’re honest… a little suspicious.

Because love doesn’t seem to put food on the table.
Love doesn’t magically stop bullying.
Love doesn’t immediately end wars, hatred, or violence.

Or does it?

Sydney Banks used to say, “Love is the answer to everything.”
That’s a bold statement. One that can sound naïve if we hear it from a busy, frightened, problem-solving mind.

So what did he mean?

Not that kind of love

When most of us hear the word love, we think of something conditional.

I love you if you behave.
I love you as long as you agree with me.
I love you until you hurt me.

That kind of love is fragile.
It comes and goes with moods, circumstances, and thinking.

And no, that love does not stop violence.
It often fuels it.

But that’s not the love Syd was pointing to.

The love behind thought

Syd wasn’t talking about an emotion we generate.
He wasn’t talking about being nice, passive, or permissive.
And he definitely wasn’t talking about love as a moral instruction.

He was pointing to Love as a state of mind.
A quality that is present when personal thinking quiets.

Unconditional love isn’t something we do.
It’s something we notice when the mind settles.

When we aren’t caught in insecure thinking, what’s left is goodwill.
Clarity.
Common sense.
Human warmth.
Compassion.
Resilience.
Health.

Love, in this sense, isn’t sentimental.
It’s grounded.
Practical.
Often quiet.

Does love put food on the table?

Here’s the twist.

Love doesn’t put food on the table directly.
Clarity does.

And clarity naturally arises from a mind free of fear, judgment, and resentment.

From clarity:

• We see options we couldn’t see before
• We make wiser decisions
• We cooperate instead of competing
• We act without unnecessary friction

That kind of action feeds people.
Builds systems.
Creates solutions.

Love isn’t the action.
Love is the source of intelligent, wisdom-based action.

Does love stop bullying, hate, and violence?

Not as a slogan.
Not as a demand.
Not as a forced behaviour.

But when someone sees, even briefly, that their experience comes from thought, not from others, something softens.

When insecurity drops, even for a moment, aggression loses its fuel.

Love shows up as:

• A pause instead of a punch
• Curiosity instead of certainty
• Naming harm without dehumanizing
• Firm boundaries without hatred

That’s not a weakness.
That’s strength without contamination.

What would it look like in everyday life?

This is the important distinction that I see.
Not theory. Not poetry. Real-life experience.

Unconditional love in practice might look like:

• Listening without rehearsing your response
• Letting someone else have their experience without fixing it
• Taking action after your snow globe settles
• Saying no without anger
• Saying yes without fear
• Seeing the human (health) before the behaviour

Most of the time, it won’t announce itself.

It won’t be dramatic.
It won’t trend on social media.
But it will change outcomes.
It has too. It’s how it works.

The real possibility

If love is what naturally emerges when thinking quiets, then the work isn’t to be more loving.

The work is to understand how our experience is created.

From that understanding:

• Love becomes accessible
• Wisdom becomes reliable
• Action becomes cleaner
• And we stop trying to solve human problems from frightened states of mind

Maybe Syd was right.

Not in a sentimental way.
But in the most practical way imaginable.

Love isn’t the answer because it sounds good.

Love is the answer because it’s what remains when illusion falls away.

And from there, anything becomes possible.

Much love,

This is from the 2002 concert at Buckingham Palace Garden. Great to see so many creative and talented people all on one stage singing the truth.