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The many faces of love
She loves me, he loves me not! "Love" has various different meanings and people interpret it in different ways. You can twist the word around so much that you end up with a tangle of diverse views and doctrines. The word itself can either confuse or amuse you. Love is a major factor in any relationship. However, a relationship can suffer from a lack of love or too much of it. When there is not enough love, the couple becomes distant because they don’t share a special bond that binds them together. On the other hand, when partners love each other too much, they don’t allow their partners their freedom and space, and this can easily lead to quarrelling or breakups. There are many misconceptions about love. Some confuse physical attraction with caring. A man might see an amazingly beautiful woman and call it love. Is there really such a thing as love at first sight? Many different opinions are given concerning this issue. "I believe that love at first sight is just falling in love with a person’s looks, to really be in love, you should know a little bit about the person or have talked to them at least once," says grade ten student, Michelle Patkowski. "I am a hopeless romantic, so obviously I have experienced love at first sight. I think that when two people meet, there can be chemistry and fireworks. It is not just all about physical attraction, but how you first feel when you lay your eyes on that person," says grade twelve student, Kerri Patrick. Love can be categorized into different types. There is of course, the typical boy-girl type of love. There is also homosexual love. Next, there is love amongst brothers and sisters, fathers and sons, or mothers and daughters. This love is based strictly on caring deeply, and having concern for the opposing party. Finally, there is an extremely deep and sacred love for God which comes only from appreciating the importance of spirituality. Love is very important in order to achieve in life. Life after death, or reincarnation, is believed by many. Edgar Cayce, a very knowledgeable psychologist, has written many books on this subject. In one of his books, "Your Sacred Self", he specifically talks about certain individuals or who it would not be necessary to return in this plane because of special qualities. In their previous life, they had repeatedly loved, given and served in selfless and sacrificing ways. These special qualities had benefitted them greatly and had helped them to achieve in their lifetime. Love, in my opinion, is a practice of giving without any intentions to acquire. When someone loves, it should come from their heart and not be practiced selfishly. For example, if someone gives a prayer, it should not be given with thoughts that he or she will get something in return, or be rewarded for their deed. We should establish "love" as a standard or ideal because by having thoughts and intentions to love, we can better allow love to flow through us. This will remind us to always love and will enrich our lives. One way to be happy is to love what you do and what you have. This applies to relationships also. Many relationships end in disaster because each person is always concentrating on what is missing in the other person. Instead of this, one should focus on what they do have. As a result, they will better appreciate their situation. Love is a necessity in everyone’s life. It brings color into our life and brightens it up. Life without it is fruitless. It can be very scary to face this world by yourself. There is someone out there for everyone and God has made sure of this. For this reason, we are given families and the ability to make friends. To live life without companionship is like being alone in the world.
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