Metaphysics is the study of 'what is' in philosophy. I'm going to digress heavily so I can provide a foundation for the following beliefs predicated on this topic. Look around you. Touch something. Look at something. Taste something. Listen to something. This is what most people would call reality. It's our sensual experiences that propose the answer to the question: What is real? But is it really real? What if one has a dream? A dream that was "realistic"? A dream in which you did not initially know you were dreaming? What if you were unable to wake up? What would be the difference between the dream world and our world? Now this may seem like something from the Matrix films, which yes, I do enjoy very deeply, but in fact the question is MUCH older than the films predating them about 3000 years.
We can suspect that our senses are lying to us. After all we have no way of validating whether or not they are or are not by normal scientific means. Now if we are dreaming, then essentially this unreal life is meaningless. It holds know "real" value whats or ever. Unfortunately we do not know what is real. We do not know why we're here or where we came from or why we do the things we do. But that's what the irony of love invites: Certainty. When you're head over heals for someone you know you're infatuated. Somehow everything becomes meaningful, and you may not know much about the ontology of the Universe, but you appreciate it's magnificence anyhow. This is the power of love. Sometimes what's real doesn't even matter anymore. Physical attachment doesn't always predicate love.
Long distance relationships, in this society are condemned due to loss of physical contact. It becomes difficult and eventually the relationship becomes stale and worthless. It's very very difficult to do. I admittedly am in a long distance relationship in the eyes of the Layman. Everlin lives in Chicago, I live in Florida. We are states away and I will admit that, although we fight, and we have our problems, that we are in love. I love her so much and as far as contemporary society was concerned, I never met her. Therefore, it's almost inconceivable that I could even state that I love her. It's so frowned upon that in all honesty, I find it quite funny. The question "how" begs for an answer. It's as if they must know "how" I can I love someone I never physically touched. The answer is simple. The emotions transition beyond the physical "reality", if you will, that people live in now a days. Do I require her to be there? No. I don't. Would it be nice to meet her physically? Well certainly, but that doesn't mean that meeting is necessary to validate our love for each other. Reason being is because if I can love her without seeing her physically in front of me, then why do I require her to BE physically in front of me to love her? I do not. Love transcends physical reality. Love is a truth beyond the physical world. It exists within the heart. I do not need to feel her with this body... I already feel her with my heart.
Now, that kind of love, that kind of devotion, is frightening. Many people rarely experience that kind of love. Sometimes two people will fall in love, stay together for a few years, then just as easily fall out of love as if it never happened. Maybe that heartbreak is painful, perhaps even unbearable but at the end of the day they get through it and move on as if it never happened, supposedly wiser than before. That kind of love seems real because it involves pain and suffering, which has always been the validation of reality in the human mind. We pinch ourselves to know we're not dreaming. Therefore, we believe it is possible to love someone then fall out of love with them. I disagree. I don't believe you can truly fall in love with someone then just completely fall out of love as easily or as difficult as when you fell in love. Perhaps you believe you love someone due to a sexual attracting, or maybe due to an extreme emotional attachment to that person. But truly being in love is a permanent deal. It's eternal. It does not fade, nor does it die. You can repress it deep into the confines of one's very essence, but you can never completely destroy it; you can only hide from it.
How do I know this? Simple, love is like death. When you're in love with someone, truly and utterly in love with someone, you die. Not your physical body, of course since that would be rather odd, but a more sentimental and more horrific death. You witness the death of your self. The affirmation of love is death of the individuals whom are in love. It is death of The Self. However, when that Self dies, it is reborn. It is resurrected and bettered. It is different. You feel your values you change. Everything suddenly becomes rich with meaning and everything becomes beautiful. Suddenly everything is somehow different because you are different. You are in love. Again what is love? Love is a word.
"Love is a word. What matters is the connection the word implies.."-Rama Kandra;
The Matrix Revolutions.
The birth of that connection is love. Love is a word that signifies the onset and the presence of that connection. It's not an ordinary connection however. It's more profound and significant. It becomes addictive and can even be powerful enough to drive a man insane. It's powerful enough to make a man move mountains and powerful enough to shape the very universe. It's powerful enough to override the chemical precursors evolution has provided mankind for Self preservation. It's a connection that runs so deep it bypasses the physical self and goes deep into the very essence of the individual, his very soul itself. It's powerful enough to kill the individual and bring him back. It's powerful enough to dwarf death and distance. It's when you're a horrid person, perhaps you committed the worst moral crimes ever or perhaps you did something in your past and it's okay. The person you love may be in tremendous pain, and they may weep over it, but it's okay because they still love you. That connection still remains. Not even death can do it apart.
When I critique physical connection or activity validating love, I do strictly mean physical contact. Of course some form of communication must be there or the person is lonely because of the incomplete feeling that follows not being in the presence in any way, shape, or form. There of course must be some form of contact, but when love is powerful enough, it transcends death and brings one peace. Because death is not the absence of contact, in fact death is the essence of pure contact. It's when the person's essence is all around you and you can feel them there, not with your body of course, but with your heart. It's painful, and it's saddening, but it's also enlightening, and ultimately serene. The idea of death as being serene is so alien but love is what makes death familiar. Love is like being dead. Perhaps you long to join them in death, but simply because they no longer walk besides you physically doesn't mean they're no longer there. Love is just that powerful.
It summons the greatest will power because true love is beyond fear and it's beyond desire. It's in a place of pure will power. There is no inherit reason to love someone truly and unconditionally. There is no reason other than willing it. There is no desire, no fear, they love each other simply because they just do. No reason or intrinsic value beyond that. I personally believe that, that essence of pure will, is ultimate freedom, and that's why I equate love with freedom. How do you know you're really in love? Well, how close do the bombs need to hit home before you duck for cover? How close to the skin do you have to shave before you risk a cut? How much are you willing to give up to hold on to that connection? Are you willing to give up your dreams? How bout your life? How bout your values, your religion, or even your deepest secrets? How bout your very soul and existence? How about your job? Your money? Your freedom? Your morality? How about absolutely everything? Are you willing to give all that up for a single person or a selective group of people simply because you feel a profound connection that isn't even validated based entirely on the fact that they're not even physically there? For me, the answer is "Yes, I would gladly."
That is the essence of freedom and ultimately the fundamental nature of love. Freedom isn't a liberty to simply say what you want too. Freedom is being who you are irrespective of anything. Freedom is also the right to give that up entirely. Freedom is the freedom to fail and loose everything. Freedom is faith, not in the religious sense, but faith that the goal you're fighting for will be attained. "Freedom is not so much like dipping your hand in a cookie jar whenever you want; it's more like being thrown out of the house at the age of 8."- Stephen Faller in his book Beyond the Matrix: Revolutions and Revelations. That's what freedom is; it's terrifying but it's liberating. That is exactly what love is like. It's when you don't need a reason to do something. Why do I stay in a relationship with her? Why would I risk everything for her when I "don't even know her"? Would you really give up everything for her? My reply would be "Yes". Why?
Because I choose too.
1 comment:
Idk what to say other then I love you and you make me so happy. I never want to be without you. I still with you forever
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