A Philosophical Inquiry

[artsfartsyjanet]

A Philosophical Inquiry

Love. What is it?
We have ballads for it,
flowers to symbolize it,
and scriptures to convey it.

We have scents to enhance it,
hugs to express it,
kisses to embrace it,
and smiles to represent it.

We write to secret admirers to hide it,
pretend we’re not infatuated
like there’s no pain
To keep it a secret.

We forgive to rebuild it,
Apologize to save it,
And sacrifice to accommodate it
If no one else has room for it.


We are challenged by it.
We have faith in it,
And we lose ourselves in it.

It takes trust to maintain it.
It takes justice to taste it.
It takes at least one person to enjoy it,
and one decision to destroy it

yet no one claims to know all or nothing about it.

[Shuriken]

What is this thing called love,
This funny thing called love?
Just who can solve
Its mystery?
And why should it make a fool of me?

I saw you there one wonderful day,
But you took my heart
And you threw my heart away.

That's why I ask the Lord
Up in Heaven above,
What is this thing called love?


—Cole Porter, "What Is This Thing Called Love?"

[mrazntre]

They say it's a river, that circles the earth
A beam of light shining to the edge of the universe
it conquers all, it changes everything

They say it's a blessing, they say it's a gift
they say it's a miracle
and I believe that it is
it conquers all, but it's a mystery

Love breaks your heart
Love takes no less than everything
Love makes it hard
and it fades away so easily

In this world we've created
where this place that we lived
in a blink of an eye the darkness slips in
love lights the world
unites the love that´s for eternity

Love brakes the chain
Love aches for everyone of us
Love takes the tears of pain, and it turns it in
to the beauty that remains

Look at this place
it was paradise, but now it's dying
I´ll brave the love
I´ll take, my chances that it´s not too late

Love brakes your heart
Love takes no less than everything
Love makes it hard
and fades away so easily

Oh oh oh

Love brakes the chain
Love aches for everyone of us
Love takes the tears and the pain, and turns it in
to the beauty that remains


...Vanessa Williams and Brian McKnight.


pain is all that remains.

[Hito]

All you need is love...
- John Lennon -

[nicedream]

love, like god is our own creation.

[Shuriken]

What is love? It's an instinct hard-wired into our DNA that gives us an incentive to mate and reproduce. It seems that passing along ones genes is a primal instinct shared by most creatures, and humankind is not exempt. If humans felt no attraction towards each other, it would limit our ability to procreate and survive. Similarly, if we were a species that ate our young — rather than adoring them the way we do — that would also cut down on our ability to pass down our genes.

This might seem like a cold and clinical answer, but it's not the whole story. After all, not all mating and sex among humans is procreative. If we were really a species that only allowed procreative mating than those people who a sterile, gay, or otherwise non-procreative would not be valued at all in human society. So, the fact that anyone can love and be loved regardless of one's ability to reproduce tells me that there's more to love than its function in biology.