Love

We talked about love in general studies today, and it was established with some exceptions that love doesn't actually exist. Love is nothing but a physiological attraction between two people meeting a functional need in the empirical world. Love is a convenience - a consideration - conditional on behaviors and attitudes.

Of course, I disagree with this.

I think love is a great deal more than that. I'm not talking about how it starts or how it's consummated - I'm talking about what it is - about what kind of force in our species and ours alone can bring and keep people together who may have no other reason or need to be together. I'm talking about what intangible force can endure between two people despite reason - despite hardship and travail. I'm talking about that perfect selflessness which transcends personal need and ambition and dotes only on the object of affection, to the exclusion and even sacrifice of all else.

Of course, some suggest that love can be commodified, that it can be measured in carats; that it's quantifiable, and can be carried around in a pouch or bag (presumably depending on how many carats there are.) I also disagree with this.

Some think that love is not unconditional, but that it can be abandoned at the slightest sign of hardship or challenge. These people perhaps also believe that mistakes can never be forgiven, and that restlessness equals dissatisfaction equals an obligation to seek change. This might explain ever-balooning divorce rates in the world as fewer and fewer people bother to work through their problems.

I suppose I was witnessing the young person's perspective - that everything is measurable and quantifiable and understandable, and that everything in life can be reduced to coin or belief. A perspective that puts everything in perfect order because it must be that way - because that is the only way it can be studied. That says the empirical is something that must be controlled to be enjoyed.

Speaking as an old fart I can tell you that this is wrong, but what am I going to do? I felt the same way when I was younger - back when I "had the world by its tail", so I can hardly complain about it. I grew through it, though, in a purification by fire. I soon figured out that mankind has no more answers now than they did 10,000 years ago. I also figured out that the drive to figure things out is what sets us apart from the animals. The beat goes on.

In the case of love, of course, what goes on is the heartbeat.

J