The Love Phenomenon

The Love Phenomenon I am completely astounded by the idea of love. Of course, who hasn’t said a line like that? But it’s just so bizarre. For someone like me, who’s young and new to the world, and unaware of the extent of my emotions and feelings, why is the idea of love so foreign? Even so, in my youth, with what little taste of love I've experienced to the most amateur degree, I can’t help but crave it. How strange it is that I crave something so foreign. So far away. When people think about love, they think of happiness, family, security, all packed into the eyes of their significant other. I don’t see that. To me, love is not romantic. It’s not some story or plot riddled with obstacles and goals and dreams and reaching the stars. Love appears to me as an instinct. An animalistic hunger, untamable. Love is this gnarly, raw, organic sensation that we simply cannot hope to define in any shape or form. Society appears to have limited the idea of love. To most, it is a science, or a philosophy, or perhaps just an act. Love has nothing to do with any of that. It is void of physicality, of boundary, of capacity. Love is as apparent as thin air, as constant as breathing, as unavoidable as death. Love is not some mushy, heartwarming ooze that gushes out of our hearts. It is just not as simple as that. Love is as beyond as faith. It is something we innately believe in, regardless of what tribulations we have in our day to day lives. It is the hope of fulfillment. From the day we are born, we feel love. Or rather, we embody love. The only reason humanity seems to thrive and evolve, whilst the surrounding creatures remain stagnant, is because those creatures cannot hope to harness such a desire, such a need, as love. Only humans, through years of conditioning, exposure, loss, regret, struggle, violence, and miracles learned to love. Love is not positive. Love is neutral. It is an understanding that human beings are connected, on one level or another. It is the acknowledgment that throughout our lifespan - our time on this Earth - we demand of ourselves the right to die with someone by our side. Love is the fear of being left to one’s own devices. It is the fear of being alone. (I'm not sure I'm done with this piece. Not sure where to go with it either.)

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