Random Thoughts of Mine...

From a Really Sober Guy :D

Where Is Love?

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I was surfing the Internet and found this essay on love by Alan Harris. Below is an excerpt from it:


Where Is Love?
A Perilous Search

by Alan Harris
WE ARE FOREVER LOOKING FOR LOVE in our lives. We look for a sweetheart who will turn into a loving spouse. We look for love from our parents and respect from our children. We look for love from our government, hoping our leaders will be compassionate with us and our countrymen. But strangely, we often get into our worst messes when all we are doing is looking for love. A marriage may split up due to one of the partners looking elsewhere for love. A teenager may wreck his car and his body by driving too fast in a quest for a certain kind of love from his peers. Desperate for love, people ruin their minds with drugs which give them a temporary surge of a counterfeit feeling similar to love. Does anyone ever find love? If so, where is it? Observation suggests that love, real as it is, cannot be found and isn't anywhere. When you go looking for it, you are going to find something else. What you find may keep you occupied for awhile, even addicted, but it's not love. Love is the most priceless treasure that life affords us. Religions enshrine it, billboards exploit it, professors categorize it, and newspapers report on its perversions. But it is nowhere to be found. Love is a song that threads its way through our lives from beginning to end, but did you ever try to find a song? You just know when you're hearing a song, and you just know when you're experiencing deep love, but you can't find either one. The song is a process. It weaves its way through the vocal cords and through the air molecules, but neither the vibrations, nor the ears that hear them, nor the voice that produces them, is the song. You can write notes on paper to suggest a song, but the notes are not the song. A song is a process that cannot be the same twice. Even if you hear a recorded song twice in succession, there are two different songs because you yourself have changed slightly between hearings. A song is a participatory, unrepeatable process. And so is love. Love and songs hide in the cracks of the universe--not only between the atoms, but between the betweens, in the realm of quality, not quantity--in the unmanifest (which is nowhere). Love and songs must and do express themselves using time and space, but they can be neither found nor captured in time and space. If no one were looking for love, our world would be in sad shape, some might say. But our world already is in sad shape precisely because so many people are on this quest which seems so laudable and reasonable until you examine the results of it. The problem with looking for love is that it is the me that wants it. The me wants love in the form of pleasure, money, status, fame, and any number of other forms. And if the me wants these things badly enough, the me will get them. Unfortunately, all the me gets is the forms and not the love. The me grabs for the beautiful flame and gets only hot ashes. Love eludes the me always, because the me is somewhere, and love is nowhere--they can never meet.


Read the rest of the essay here.

There are three different kinds of love.

There is Agape love which is the love of God towards Mankind.
There is Phileo love which is the love and affection we have towards a friend. Also known as "brotherly love."
And finally, there is Eros, which is sexual, erotic love or desire.

Is more than one form of love mentioned in the essay? Speaking of love, there is far too much hate going on in our world right now. There is far too little "brotherly love" going around these days it seems. Almost every time you turn on the news, you hear about something that was done out of anger, greed, hate, etc. It makes me want to ask, Where Is The Love?



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Comments

KarenNerak Tuesday, March 4, 2008 4:55:36 AM

You know, after all that, all that is going through my head is the chorus to that song that goes, "What is love? Baby don't hurt me...don't hurt me, no-mo!" lol Wow...I really just cannot retain any good info at all, can I? scared

Seriously, though...that was truly lovely. Sorry I always have to joke about everything. rolleyes It's a flaw.

Dacotah Tuesday, March 4, 2008 4:58:46 AM

Good post

MarcusFXM256 Tuesday, March 4, 2008 5:04:29 AM

lol I joke about almost everything too, Karen! We are pretty similar since I have the same flaw too! bigsmile

Thanks Carol smile

Allangieallangie Tuesday, March 4, 2008 5:20:34 AM

I want to find love cry

MarcusFXM256 Tuesday, March 4, 2008 5:22:09 AM

Awww, here's some love for you, Alla! smile

KarenNerak Tuesday, March 4, 2008 5:24:18 AM

Whew! I'm glad you didn't take offense! yes


I love you, Alla! heart

Dacotah Tuesday, March 4, 2008 5:31:00 AM

You are welcome Marcus. smile

MarcusFXM256 Tuesday, March 4, 2008 5:32:12 AM

Of course I'm not going to take offense, Karen! yes

smile Carol

Allangieallangie Tuesday, March 4, 2008 5:43:21 AM

I love you too Karen and Marcus, you're the greatest up heart!

MarcusFXM256 Tuesday, March 4, 2008 5:47:20 AM

Awww, thanks Alla! o And you're pretty darn great yourself! up

Allangieallangie Tuesday, March 4, 2008 5:53:36 AM

Compliments, hehe o

MarcusFXM256 Tuesday, March 4, 2008 5:59:22 AM

smile

Allangieallangie Tuesday, March 4, 2008 6:01:59 AM

angel

MarcusFXM256 Tuesday, March 4, 2008 6:03:00 AM

Yep, you are an angel Alla smile

Allangieallangie Tuesday, March 4, 2008 6:06:28 AM

Awww happy Why aren't you in bed, Marcus?

MarcusFXM256 Tuesday, March 4, 2008 6:08:37 AM

I'm about to go to bed very soon, Alla. I couldn't get sleepy earlier. bigeyes What time is it where you are at?


Allangieallangie Tuesday, March 4, 2008 6:09:43 AM

It's 9.09. We are 8 hours ahead smile

MarcusFXM256 Tuesday, March 4, 2008 6:12:12 AM

Wow, it's 0112 here and I really need to get to zzz!

Allangieallangie Tuesday, March 4, 2008 6:22:01 AM

Good night, Marcus and sweet dreams:wizard:

CherylDuckyChickenLady Tuesday, March 4, 2008 1:43:41 PM

lol I just enjoyed all the comments.. p
I think of that Foreigner song-- I wanna know what love is... sing
Excellent post!

However...I am learning what Love is...or should I say, Who Love is...
Seriously...I am, and the most awesome thing is...it's for everyone! smile
heart

CherylDuckyChickenLady Tuesday, March 4, 2008 1:44:42 PM

Oh ya..btw..I like your blog setup & header picture..very nice! up

Mizz MartínezMizzMartinez Tuesday, March 4, 2008 5:54:54 PM

SHITE! yikes We had a discussion about this topic today with some mates of mine in uni...and a friend would describe love and used this exact description

There is Agape love which is the love of God towards Mankind.
There is Phileo love which is the love and affection we have towards a friend. Also known as "brotherly love."
And finally, there is Eros, which is sexual, erotic love or desire.

I'm astonished! bigeyes

MarcusFXM256 Tuesday, March 4, 2008 9:53:56 PM

Thanks Alla, I slept well and didn't want to get out of bed this morning! lol

lol This post does bring that song to mind for me too, Cheryl bigsmile That love that you speak of is the Agape love right? smile
Thanks, I found the header on Ivan's blog smile

bigeyes Holy cow, that is TOO MUCH of a coincidence that I was talking about the same thing that you discussed with your friends today, Kerstin! Maybe I'm psychic and don't even know it! rolleyes


Mizz MartínezMizzMartinez Tuesday, March 4, 2008 9:57:19 PM

Holy cow indeed Marcus! bigeyes Who knows what you really are? o

MarcusFXM256 Tuesday, March 4, 2008 10:02:47 PM

bigeyes That is still quite weird how that happened! left Sometimes I don't even know what I really am lol

Mizz MartínezMizzMartinez Tuesday, March 4, 2008 10:15:18 PM

Many coincedences lately...don't you agree? o

Don't you know who you are? For sure? sad

MarcusFXM256 Wednesday, March 5, 2008 5:08:06 AM

Yes indeed you are correct. smile

I do know and was just messing with ya earlier p

Mizz MartínezMizzMartinez Wednesday, March 5, 2008 7:13:49 AM

And I was messing with ya dummie! whistle

MichelleCapegirl Wednesday, March 5, 2008 11:16:12 AM

my understanding of love these days (the kind we'd have for a significant other) is a mixture of the three you've mentioned above.

this kind of love is all around us, but we are often unable to look past our own ego and selfishness to notice it, which is sad beyond belief. :frown:

i think it is possible to quantify love, and it is somewhere, when you look back and see the three kinds of love, that have always threaded itself through your life. if we'd just stop and see it. smile

CherylDuckyChickenLady Wednesday, March 5, 2008 1:45:09 PM

Hey there Marcus..I was gonna reply yesterday..but my head felt like it was gonna pop off my body...fighting a flu here.

Yes, it is the Agape love of God. It's hard to explain it.
The Agape love is an all- fulfilling Love. I can understand why there are some people that can live totally to serve God...and that is because that Love sustains them.
I am just beginning to learn..that people don't really need to be 'complete' with a spouse or partner. (though these are God given in the right circumstances)
God fills all the voids. I am not just spouting retoric...I am totally convinced of this. There are times when I am in His Presence and want to stay there for hours..there is such a fulness there...a Love that can not be described. It goes beyond our human-logical understanding.
I have experienced so much of the contrary --being promiscuous, partying..pretty much the opposite of what I am talking about..there is no comparison.
Anyhow...I ain't gonna preach..lol..I just thought I would put my 2 cents more in. bigsmile heart

MarcusFXM256 Wednesday, March 5, 2008 10:16:04 PM

You better hope I don't ever get my hands on you Shorty, because you are soooo gonna get it! ninja p

Hi Michelle, I didn't think about it like that before and you are correct. smile People have shown love to others in the kind deeds that you may do for somebody you barely know, or know quite well. Thanks for your great comment smile

Hi Cheryl, glad that your head feels better today and pray that the flu leaves you very soon! up You are very right and many people live with an "emptiness" inside them that they try to fill with sex, drugs, alcohol, etc., and those things become their addictions. If these same people experienced the Agape love that you are talking about, it will take away their desire for those addictions that I mentioned earlier. Thanks for your insightful comment. smile

Mizz MartínezMizzMartinez Wednesday, March 5, 2008 10:35:37 PM

You better hope I don't ever get my hands on you Shorty, because you are soooo gonna get it!

PLEASE!!! I don't have to hope...I already know you'll never be able to come even 5 km close to me! Dummie! doh

MarcusFXM256 Wednesday, March 5, 2008 10:40:49 PM

bigeyes I'm gonna jump on a plane and suprise you when you least expect it, Shorty! What makes you think I can't get within 5km of you? rolleyes

Mizz MartínezMizzMartinez Wednesday, March 5, 2008 10:45:29 PM

Logic makes me think that! doh I'm just being a realist and you are in your fantasy world...but sooner or later, you'll have to wake up Dummie! wink

MarcusFXM256 Wednesday, March 5, 2008 11:03:55 PM

*Starts saving up money for a plane ticket to Sweden* devil

Mizz MartínezMizzMartinez Wednesday, March 5, 2008 11:20:02 PM

How much then? 1$ per day? whistle Yeah, it'll probably work out...you'll be able to come here...in a couple of years! up

MarcusFXM256 Wednesday, March 5, 2008 11:30:16 PM

rolleyes I'm saving up more than that and it's gonna be a surprise bigsmile

Esther-Sugar Winxsugarwinx Thursday, March 6, 2008 6:40:37 AM

Love is here... bigsmile

Mizz MartínezMizzMartinez Thursday, March 6, 2008 3:21:49 PM

Yeah...a surprise for yourself I suppose! lol

Where, where Sugar? Where is love? bigeyes Btw..sorry about BB! sad

MarcusFXM256 Thursday, March 6, 2008 9:42:45 PM

Hi Esther, when is the wedding date, Stranger? bigsmile

lol And how so, Shorty? You are the one that's gonna get it when I catch you! p

Mizz MartínezMizzMartinez Thursday, March 6, 2008 9:47:35 PM

Yadda yadda yadda! bigeyes

MarcusFXM256 Thursday, March 6, 2008 10:05:10 PM

irked You say all that now because you know that I can't get to you just yet, Shorty p

Mizz MartínezMizzMartinez Thursday, March 6, 2008 10:33:09 PM

doh Finally you figure it out...but on the other hand, you get all irked because you know that you'll not make it here! wink

MarcusFXM256 Thursday, March 6, 2008 10:53:12 PM

lol Don't know why I keep running into smarta$$ girls where ever I go. rolleyes If I do make it there, then you are big trouble young lady! p

Mizz MartínezMizzMartinez Thursday, March 6, 2008 10:54:32 PM

Yadda yadda yadda * 256!

MarcusFXM256 Thursday, March 6, 2008 10:55:42 PM

*must think of way to trick, oops, get you to come to me* devil

Mizz MartínezMizzMartinez Thursday, March 6, 2008 10:57:54 PM

zzz

MarcusFXM256 Thursday, March 6, 2008 11:08:19 PM

*tickles you awake* p

Mizz MartínezMizzMartinez Thursday, March 6, 2008 11:44:23 PM

no

MarcusFXM256 Friday, March 7, 2008 1:54:15 AM

yes

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