About Love
#life
Love is one of the most loved words in our life. Some people use it to describe the deep connection between humans—between parents and their children, between friends, and often between two people drawn to each other in what we commonly call romantic love. Whatever form it takes, love gives rise to feelings that are hard to explain, yet impossible to ignore.
A man and a woman, a boy and a girl—two people are naturally drawn to each other. That attraction creates new life, new information, and change entire economy. Some call love the essence of life: to love and to be loved is life. Some others define love as a source of dissatisfaction—perhaps those whose closest friend once disappeared without a word, leaving behind nothing but a broken heart.
Each person defines love through their own experience. Yet within those definitions, a pattern emerges: a set of rare, almost sacred emotions, which they claim they had never felt before. What kind of life is it, we wonder, without being surrounded by people we love? Love fills the empty space in us, as if one person alone is not enough to exist. A biologist who studied the reproduction cycle of mosquitoes for 11 years, might say that love is nothing more than a biological trick. A mathematician might call it a problem that can't be solved, something too complex to fit into any equation. But without love, we cannot evolve. A species that never learns to love is soon left behind.
There’s nothing wrong with defining love based on experience. But doing so often leads to confusion—for both lovers and non-lovers. What exactly is love? If a boy spends his entire day thinking about a girl, is that love or mere attraction? If a couple hasn’t shared a bed in years, is that love or only a lingering commitment? What do we do when we’re truly in love—and how would we know?
Love contains countless attributes: attraction, care, emotion, commitment, values, respect, support, interests, goals, even philosophy,etc.; this is not exhaustive. The list is endless, and these forms are never isolated. A person who shows no care might weaken the attraction. A relationship without respect will struggle to hold commitment. To make matters more complicated, each of these traits is subjective—and thus love. If love could be measured objectively, we could write an algorithm to evaluate it before heading to a divorce lawyer. But it can't. And maybe that's the point.
Perhaps we are not meant to define love in universal terms. Maybe its beauty lies in how personal it is. We create our own meanings and carry them through life. When we motivate ourselves while far from home, we call it self-love. When we listen to each other’s stories, we call it interest. When we offer help, we call it support. When we grow side by side, we call it purpose. When we cook for someone, we call it respect. When we stay even when it’s hard, we call it commitment. When we have children, we call it biology. When we laugh, tease, cuddle, play—somewhere in all of that, we call it love.