Love

Introduction

The concept of love has always been an intriguing one since the ancient times. Many have misunderstood it, but many have understand the true meaning of love. It is perhaps something that is the most unique to the human being, or is it? We see animals caring for their offspring, but in the end, there is always some form of ulterior motive for it. Animals care for their offspring to maintain their blood, and it’s simply the rule of life. Perhaps, is there such a thing as true love? Or is love in first sight even possible? What about the love described by Jesus? I will attempt to answer these questions, and to discover the true meaning of this enigmatic issue.

What is Love?

Love is an emotion, feeling, and also an action. We may feel in love with someone, and our actions can also show our love. Jesus instructs all of us to love each other as we love ourselves. So what is love actually? Perhaps it is better for us to know what love is not. First, is love a higher level of like? No, liking something or someone is different from loving them. As liking is usually associated with attraction, we like something or someone is because they have a certain feature that appeals to us and thus we become attracted to it. So what is love then?

Love, first of all is unconditional, meaning that we love something regardless of its condition, and there is no condition required to love. To like, on the other hand is conditional, we like something because there is a certain condition that attracts us. Since we know that love is unconditional and is not the same with like or attraction, we can start to figure out what love truly is. Of course, this begs the question, what about romantic relationships, are they love or just like or attraction?

In romantic relationships, it is hard to determine whether the couple truly loves each other or not, as they may do things that look like they love each other, but in actuality they don’t. Why is this? Say the couple would protect each other and fulfill each other’s needs, but in the end one can say that they are doing it just for self gain, how is this? This is possible because it becomes a mutually symbiotic relationship, which in the end is just for self gain, we help the other party so they can help us. In the end it’s still conditional. Though of course, there are couples who truly do love each other unconditionally.

What about love in first sight? Truth is, what people regard as love in first sight is just sexual attraction or lust, again this is conditional and thus not love at all. As such, when you fall in love with someone just by looking at them, you’re probably just sexually attracted to them, nothing else. And again, it is possible that couples are only in relationship because they are sexually attracted to each other, again not love. As such, there is no such thing as love in first sight, it’s only sexual attraction.

Then what is true love then? We’ve been running around in circles without really knowing what is love. However, we do know that love is not the same with like or attraction. They have similar properties, but have one key difference, love is unconditional, while attraction is conditional. As such, we can deduce that attraction has the sole purpose of self gain, while love has nothing to do with self gain. With that information, we can start deducing what love truly is.

Love is the feeling or emotion that we have for someone, where we wish to give or do what is best for them. Of course, we don’t just want them to be happy, but we want them the best for them, and we express it through our actions to help them. When we love someone, we don’t really care about ourselves, all we want is for the other to be happy and have a good life. As such, we do not expect rewards, and we love them regardless of their nature. And that is true love. Though is that all, is that all there is with love? Of course not, as now we have to relate this with our understanding of the Divine.

Self Gain?

If we remind ourselves of the truth of God and thus all of us, we can arrive in the conclusion that there is only one person that exists, that is God, and all others are just a reiteration or reflection of God. Now, that has a serious implication with our idea of love. As that means that love in the end is just for self gain, right? This makes sense, as whatever we do, it all boils down to God, and thus by loving others, we just love ourselves. Then is that it? Is love selfish?

Of course not, love is not selfish. And we seem to forgot one thing, loving ourselves. Isn’t self love the same with egoism and selfishness? Of course not, remember the key aspect of love, unconditional. To love oneself is accept ourselves for whatever we are, and we do things that helps us get closer to the truth and to life. Of course it is for self gain, as we gain something from it in the end. And the idea of self love truly makes sense when you relate it with the truth of God.

When we love, what we are doing is we accept our true nature, that is of ourselves and our self as God for what we are. We accept that there is evil in this world, we accept that there are imperfections, but we love them regardless. We strive to do what is good for the entirety of the self, and thus bring the entire self closer to life, freedom, and truth. Of course love is for self gain, but then there is only the self. Self gain, is truly our gain.

Closing

I can say more about this topic and just blabber on about love. But it’s useless, love is simple, it is unconditional and acceptance of the self, of God. It is the desire for the self to be in the light, to live, to be free, to be something more. To mean more and live more than just get rich and die. Love is simply acceptance of the self and the desire to move forwards and constantly be better. I believe that is all I have to say, have a nice day and see you later.