T
tonyrey
Guest
A person can live without sex but none of us can live without love. If we don’t love God or anyone else we must love ourselves; otherwise we wouldn’t bother to go on living. We would either commit suicide or die from self-neglect. It is also unreasonable to love some one and not to love ourselves because it implies we have nothing to offer that person! Love implies appreciation and gratitude for at least two gifts: our life and theirs. If it is rational it cannot be entirely introverted.
We usually associate love with emotion, just as we usually associate sex with pleasure. Yet in both cases reason is an essential element because we are not animals but persons. We are rational beings who need to integrate our physical and spiritual needs and activities. To live for sex is to live like an animal and to live for logic is to live like a robot! Without emotions we are not really alive but if we are dominated by them we are a danger to ourselves and everyone else…
Love is not just a question of reason and emotion. The popular notion that it is a blind, helpless state into which we fall against our will is nonsense but it is not complete nonsense! A deep attraction to another person is often not just physical but also spiritual. Love at first sight is not entirely a myth because intuition plays a large part in our lives - although strong physical attraction may sway our judgment. The only real test of true love is one that neither we nor anyone else can make: the test of time.
Sexual attraction may endure for a long time but it is not enough to unite a man and a woman unless they are sufficiently unselfish to live together in harmony when faced with the inevitable problems of co-existence. That is where love comes in because it involves not only reason and emotion but also free will, self-control and determination. Love is the greatest creative force there is because it embraces every aspect of our being. It enables us to create works of aesthetic and spiritual beauty, gives us the power to overcome every obstacle - even suffering and death - and is a distinct sign that we are made in the image of God. Even in this world a united family is virtually immortal - if the universe is congenial…
We usually associate love with emotion, just as we usually associate sex with pleasure. Yet in both cases reason is an essential element because we are not animals but persons. We are rational beings who need to integrate our physical and spiritual needs and activities. To live for sex is to live like an animal and to live for logic is to live like a robot! Without emotions we are not really alive but if we are dominated by them we are a danger to ourselves and everyone else…
Love is not just a question of reason and emotion. The popular notion that it is a blind, helpless state into which we fall against our will is nonsense but it is not complete nonsense! A deep attraction to another person is often not just physical but also spiritual. Love at first sight is not entirely a myth because intuition plays a large part in our lives - although strong physical attraction may sway our judgment. The only real test of true love is one that neither we nor anyone else can make: the test of time.
Sexual attraction may endure for a long time but it is not enough to unite a man and a woman unless they are sufficiently unselfish to live together in harmony when faced with the inevitable problems of co-existence. That is where love comes in because it involves not only reason and emotion but also free will, self-control and determination. Love is the greatest creative force there is because it embraces every aspect of our being. It enables us to create works of aesthetic and spiritual beauty, gives us the power to overcome every obstacle - even suffering and death - and is a distinct sign that we are made in the image of God. Even in this world a united family is virtually immortal - if the universe is congenial…