Wednesday, October 7, 2009

Amor Vincit Omnia

One thing I nor anyone else I think will ever understand is something that we all want; and in more than one way, even need. Though some would question it, it is the single most misunderstood "emotion" in the history of the world itself. Scientists and philosophers alike have tussled with its meaning. If you haven't already guessed at the cause for all of this in depth quarreling, we are referring to a thing called love. Some would claim that love is the simple sum of several chemical reactions in the body, others that it is a heaven-sent thing that us the most divine of emotions. Whether you believe in oxytosin or endorphins or more practical things like patience and kindness, There are billions of people in this world who would also have their say. So is love an opinion? Or something as vital as even the air we breathe? Either way, love is something i struggle to come to terms with.
daily.
Society tries to mold your opinions, right? Do we not see commercials telling us who's in, and what's out? In the same way, do magazines not post several articles an issue, stating which qualities makes a guy a keeper, or which PIECE of the male anatomy is a keeper, for that matter. What type of girl should I as a Sagittarius look for this month? Society tends to mold our views on much more than fashion and politics. The "social norm" of love has churches telling us who to marry, and in some countries they still have arranged marriages. Many different sources try to tell us what love is, and how to find it; and in a search for something we need; we listen and we fail. 50% of marriages fail, we go to counseling, but its too late to fix it; to replenish that lost flame. Nay, but was the flame ever indeed there? People love each other for 20 years, and then decide to split and claim that a flame was lost, or something like irreconcilable differences. How so? Is love not the pinnacle of human relation? Their are friends in elementary school that i had a platonic love for, and still miss; 15 years later. My father has not been around for 10 or so years, and if he came back, i would forgive and forget, and love. So how can two people claim to have love, the height of human intimacy, grow to hate each other? These are both basic examples, but as you will see later, there is so much more at stake than just the word. How can this happen after 20 years? 10? and God forbid a shorter term. I would say that this love is a facade, and true love was never there. That flame was but lust, the use of your utilities is no longer needed,this was but a higher form of like, or something of the sort. Common sense says that love is not any of these things, yet fools still abound! How so? It is simply because no one truly understands what love is.
Some would equate love to oxygen; songs and people claim that it is needed to breathe, to remain alive. So is your mate an oxygen tank? per say? They cant be an unlimited supply. So the shelf life of each tank expires, leaving one partner exhausted of everything they have, and the other moving on to a new oxygen tank every 3 or so years. Hardly what I view as a divine gift. Some would equate its warmth to that of a fire. So many things can go wrong here. Overlooking all the bad connotations that can be made about fire, I took this one from another standpoint. I thought of the mystery of love being like in the beginnings of time when man discovered this great thing; fire. It was used to warm them, to help provide nourishment and clean water, even to ward away foes. Truly a gift from above. But as time passed, and mankind became more advanced, we became inherently more corrupt; using this good thing called fire for its own selfish purposes. Just as man corrupted fire, it corrupted love. Scientists downplay its glory, Philosophers doubt its use. But it is still that divine thing that was given to us; and just as man, uncorrupt, used fire as a necessity, so shall we use love. But how so? For no one even knows what love truly is. For this, I loo to a child, and the love for their mother, their father. So basic, yet in a way it is the only way we can be sure we honestly understand that. You nor i understand the strength of the bond of mother and child, but it is the strongest of bonds, nevertheless. That, or we can look to scripture, and look at what the lord himself says of love. The Bible calls love several things: patient, kind, meek, mild, et cetera. And even a fool can see that truly love is all of those things, no matter what you believe. But society as said before warps these views, and love is skewed beyond repair. The nature of man, also, plays a role; as carnality plays a large role in the choosing of mates in our world today. Why is that? the things that fade are the most important only because we make them so. Sex with a replaced hip does not speak awesome, and wrinkles come about sooner or later. So why is personality consciously(or subconsciously) last in our pecking order? I have no clue, I myself am still trying to "bag a hottie." But in the end, I know, we all know, what love is. It speaks to us from afar, as if from the beyond or the soul itself. This love, true love is none of the above.

In this, truth.
No better way to put it.

"Love is patient, Love is kind. It does not envy, nor does it brag, and is not puffed up. Love does not behave indecently, It does not seek its own interests, and is slow to anger. It does not keep account of injury. It does not rejoice in iniquity, but rejoices in truth. True love bears all things, believes all things, hopes all things, and endures all things.

Love never fails."

1st Corinthians 13: 4-8 NIV

It goes on to say where there is prophesy, where there are tongues, where there is knowledge, love will wither away. and also that we all have a bit of each of the latter. No hope right? He says that true love becomes apparent, when it does at least, all these things that man has lead us to believe, what our flesh has lead us to think, will be done away with. Like he himself says,
and like I believe

"Amor Vincit Omnia"

Love conquers all.