Unconditional Love

Unconditional love is not what you think it is. If you have any ideas at all about what love is, then it is not unconditional love that you are imagining.
Unconditional love cannot be imagined. It can only be directly experienced. Once it is experienced then all other “sensual” experiences become much less important, but more intense at the same time.
Unconditional love doesn't mean ignoring your resentment toward someone. It means giving into your resentment while at the same time repenting your ignorance. In other words, it means embracing the pain we inflict upon ourselves. Not in the self-flagelation, but in the humbleness of self-effacing honesty.
Unconditional love seldom (if ever) results in one's feeling any sense of personal pleasure. The only “pleasure” a person gets from this kind of love is the pleasure that comes through our empathy for those we care about. This “real pleasure”, (a.k.a. “Joy”, a.k.a. “Bliss”) emanates from the inside out, not outside in. And, it causes all our personal external pleasure senses to tingle with the simplest experience. Drinking a glass of water can be more intoxicating than the most potent wine, for a person who truly loves.
Unconditional love does not condone ignorance. But, neither does it feed ignorance the fear that it craves. We do not “turn the other cheek” if we are afraid of being struck again. We only offer an ignorant person such an opportunity to strike us when we are not afraid, and when we truly love the person about to cause us pain. Only then will it have the power to heal.
Unconditional love does not comprehend fear. Some say that if you are not afraid then you can not know courage. But such courage is a misleading human invention that caters to false pride. I'm not saying one should not be “courages” and face their fears. We absolutely should! But, do not then take pride in your courage, for all fear is the result of your ignorance and nothing else. And, only by facing our fears can we learn this; there is nothing to be afraid of. (Or, as I believe Roosevelt once said, “The only thing we have to fear, is fear itself!”)
So, unconditional love is not something I, or anyone, can tell you about. But I, and almost anyone else, can tell you what it is not about. Just about anything you think it is, is what it is not! But, it does exist. And, it only takes faith in its existence in order to experience it. Once it has been experienced it is simply no longer possible to confuse “imagined love” with “real (unconditional) love” ever again.
“The Tao (way of love) that can be taught is not the eternal (unconditional) Tao.” - Lao-zi