I have been thinking recently, “why do we love?”. This thought just came through my mind. I know people have been telling me the reasons why, but that’s not satisfy me. So, I searched on the internet and found it. I found a video that explained “why do we love?”. Then, I clicked the video and watched it.
“Romantic love, beautiful and intoxicating, heartbreaking and soul-crushing.” it said in the beginning of the video. Does love make our lives meaningfull? or is it just to avoid loneliness? or a trick of biology to make us procreate? Do we need it at all?. None of science and psychology has discovered it yet. But over the course of history, some of philosophers have put forward some intriguing theories.
‘Love makes us whole, again’ by Plato (427-347 BCE). Plato explored the idea that we love in order to become complete. “Humans were once creatures with four arms, four legs, and two faces. One day they angered the God and Zeus sliced them all in two. Since then, every person has been missing half of him or herself.”
'Love trick us into having babies' by Schopenhauer (1788-1860). German philosopher, Arthur Schopenhauer maintained that love based in sexual desire was a voluptuous illusion. Nature is tricking us into procreating. When our sexual desires are satisfied, we are thrown back into our tormented existences, and we succeed only in maintaining the species and perpetuating the cycle of human drudgery.
‘Love is escape from our loneliness' by Rusell (1872-1970). We love in order to quench our physical and psychological desires. Our fear of the cold, cruel world tempts us to build hard shells to protect isolate ourselves. Love’s delight, intimacy, and warmth help us overcome our fear of the world. Love enriches our whole being, making it the best thing in life.
'Love is misleading afliction' by Buddha (6th-4th century BCE). Buddha proposed that we love because we are trying to satisfy our base desires. Yet, our passionate cravings are defects and attachments, even romantic love, are a great source of suffering. Luckily, Buddha discovered the eight-fold path, a sort of program for extingushing the fores of desires, so that we can reach Nirwana. An enlightened state of peace, clarity, wisdom, and compassion.
'Love lets us reach beyond ourselves' by Beauvoir (1908-1986). The French philosopher Simone de Beauvoir proposed that love is desire to integrate with another and that it infuses ourlives with meaning. Love can be so captivating, that we are tempted to make it our only reason for being dependence on another to justify our existence easily leads to boredom and power games. To avoid this trap, Beauvoir advised loving authentically, which is more like a great friendship, lovers support each other in discovering themselves, reaching beyond themselves, and enriching their lives and the world together.
Though we might never know why we falling in love, we can be certain that it will be an emotional rollercoaster ride. Maybe we lose ourselves, maybe we find ourselves. It might be heartbreaking or it might just be the best thing in life. Will you dare to find out?
source: https://youtu.be/yJSiUm6jvI0
