Radical Love

By Susan Taylor, as originally posted on LinkedIn

In a recent leadership session I was facilitating, one of the participants spoke about Radical Love. But what exactly is Radical Love?

In our Dialogue, we likened it to agape — the Greek word for “unconditional love.” A love that asks nothing in return. A love that simply is. Radical Love is a multifaceted force. One that emphasizes unconditional acceptance, deep compassion, and

a commitment to fostering connection beyond social, cultural, and even emotional boundaries. It’s often described as transformative. A love that challenges us to go beyond tolerance … beyond acceptance … into a space of genuine care and soul-rooted empathy.

This is not the kind of love that waits for permission. It is not motivated by reciprocation or reward. It’s rooted in our shared humanity, in compassion, and in the quiet yearning for a meaningful life of presence, gratitude, and grace.

In Personal Relationships, Radical Love invites us into deep listening. Into self-growth, mutual vulnerability, and real forgiveness. It’s a love that creates a space where both people can evolve — emotionally, spiritually, and soulfully.

In Parenting and Teaching, Radical Love means showing up again and again with consistency, presence, and care. Not to punish or fix — but to understand. To teach through empathy. To honor the person beyond the behavior. 

In Communities, Radical Love becomes a way of living — a devotion to the well-being of the whole, not just the parts.

In Leadership, Radical Love asks us to stay human. To be in right relationship with power. To lead without losing our tenderness. To build without closing off. It’s not a tactic. It’s not a posture. It’s a way of being.

Radical Love is not soft. It is not weak. It is not naïve.

Radical Love is clear-eyed and soul-rooted. It sees what is — without turning away — and still chooses to remain open with absolute acceptance. Not to agree or condone … but to simply be willing to be in what is. It’s the fierce commitment to show up with your whole heart in a world that often rewards armor.

Without agreement because Radical Love does not require agreement. It doesn’t need everything to be healed before it shows up. It simply brings presence. Radical Love is the love that listens deeply without needing to fix. Stays curious when judgment is easier. Sees wholeness even in broken systems. Refuses to dehumanize — even in disagreement

Radical Love is not a feeling. It’s a practice.

It asks us to live from a deeper source of truth. To allow the heart to be more than a metaphor. To re-orient our nervous systems from protection to presence. To meet each moment — not from fear — but from alignment.

In Dialogue, Radical Love is the silent field that holds us. Where meaning can arise — not from dominance — but from mutual devotion to what’s real and possible. Dialogue then becomes not a technique, but a sacred space: A space where love listens. Where souls reveal. Where something new can be born.

In Source-Inspired Leadership, Radical Love is the capacity to be still … To sense what is moving beneath the surface … To co-create from what wants to emerge — not from force, but from alignment.

It’s how we hold ambiguity.

How we lead without clinging to outcome.

How we stand in uncertainty with presence instead of panic.

In the Re-ignite Your Spirit journey, Radical Love is the ground we return to. Again and again. It’s the practice that re-awakens us to what we’ve forgotten: That our spirit — our essence — is not something to be proven. It is something to be loved into fuller expression.

Radical Love is how we heal.

It’s how we remember.

It’s how we become the leaders — and the humans — this moment is asking for.

Radical Love is not weak. It is the strongest force there is.