The Word Love - Term Paper Example

?When I first went through the list of slides I felt it really hard for me to pick just one out. Even though there were only a few there, it was still enough to have something meaningful in them that I could not miss out on. At first the names of the slides challenged my mind a bit because they all seemed new to me but I stopped at ‘Plato: Symposium.’ And opening it just at the second page it was written; ‘Plato’s praise for Eros or Love’ and I knew I had found what I was looking for. I really didn’t know what Plato was all about, I wondered maybe he must be some kind of mythological God or creature but I surely knew the meaning of love. I had finally found an emotion to write about. In the text, the author mentions that from the praise that Eros had received at a dinner party we can conclude that ‘Eros is the love of what is beautiful’ and that caught me off guard. It wasn’t the love that I thought it would be. At that point I realized that they were talking about artistic love. The love that an artist holds for what he sees and feels like capturing the moment using his abilities, no matter how he does it. “It has been said that art is a tryst, for in the joy of it maker and beholder meet.” Kojiro Tomita. And at the same point I was forced to think of Eros as a materialistic lover. What if he loved what was on the outside and not on the inside. And there I thought of him as selfish. Because I feel that outer beauty has nothing to do with what is inside. It is just like loving a thing because it is a pleasure to the eye, a luxury and nothing more, just like love for materialistic things. “Contentment is natural wealth, luxury is artificial beauty.” Socrates. I read further then and when I read that Eros is neither a god nor a man, he is not mortal and neither immortal but a ‘half-way spirit’, one suggestion came to my mind, ‘maybe he is an angel’. And when the text read that it was the kind of spirit that conveyed things between gods and humans like prayers and sacrifices I was sure to have an image of an angel for Eros in my mind. “Angels have no philosophy but love.” Terri Guillemets. Guillemets’ words made me think back of what I had thought before. Eros did not love beautiful things in an artistic way or a materialistic way. These were to define Eros. Eros as an angel must have loved something else entirely. And I realized I had got it all wrong. Reading further I found out the Eros was the son of gods of craft and poverty which must mean that he knew both the states of having everything you wanted and then losing everything you had. He must not have experienced the feelings in between and when I moved on further it was revealed. The writing showed exactly what I had thought. Eros was stuck in between ignorance and wisdom. And wisdom is to know better. Being the definition of love for beauty, at a personal level, Eros loved beauty too. In an entirely different way, he had love for wisdom, love for knowledge that would enable him to see things in a beautiful manner. “The cave you fear to enter holds the treasures you seek.” Joseph Campbell. Moving forward, the text was defining Eros as we like to use it. Eros or love can be on two different levels, spiritual love or physical love. The images I had in mind when reading this were really different from each other. The first one held a bright light to it, hard to tell of what but maybe of spirituality, of connecting or dedicating yourself to the higher powers. The second one gave me an image of affection; two people, loving each other, holding each other in their arms. And the text mentioned that physical love resulted as mortal children and at that point I got to thinking that spiritual love is not only the love for higher powers or amidst. What do we call the love we hold for elders, our parents or siblings? And the text made me realize that such love was also a form of spiritual love. “Darkness cannot drive out darkness only light can do that. Hate cannot drive out hate only love can do that.” Martin Luther King Jr. When I read the ‘Process of Love’ in the text I felt disagreement inside me. Even though the text mentioned that love is like a ladder, one step at a time but the steps it mentioned in order were not right in my opinion. Talking solely from personal experience I have seen many people actually connect with other people and believe that forming a communication bridge and getting to know someone is a priority. And then the love for beauty comes. What is beauty actually? Is beauty what meets the eye? Can a person really judge someone else just by taking a look at them? Is it really necessary that if someone has a beautiful skin, they also hold a beautiful soul? Or was the author talking about the process of love in contrast with a person’s life? First we learn to admire beauty, then we learn to appreciate what is on the inside and then we realize the love for divine, spiritual powers. It rather had my many thoughts being provoked on both the subjects. Was my argument invalid? Did the author need us to look deeper? Maybe the latter was what they were doing; reflecting the process of love according to the development of human emotions in his life. If that was what he was doing then I had to agree. A human truly does not learn to appreciate beauty until he develops a mind of his own. At first everything he sees he judges on its appearance as a child. Children like things that attract their attention; they want to own things that would attract others’ attention. People who appear kind and gentle on the outside, children tend to want to get to know. They judge a person’s kindness from the soft expressions his face might be holding. “It is not enough to love the children, it is necessary that they are aware they are loved.” St. John Bosco. Children cannot and do not know what is on the inside, they need to be told of a person’s good if you want them to like someone. When humans develop a mind of their own, they know much better not to judge a book by its cover and to try to get to know someone before forming an opinion about them. In the more mature stages of life, some people also start questioning their existence and find their answer in spiritual love, the love for divine as the text says. Next ‘Object of love’ was mentioned. And it really tricked my mind. Does love have an object too? Do we really love something or someone with a hidden motive or intention inside? For materialistic things it can be answered in the way that it is because we want to own that thing we have fallen in love with. But what about the love we feel for someone? What motive does that hold? And a phrase, long famous among lovers rang in my mind. “Be mine.” What exactly did it mean when a lover longed to hear these words from the person they loved? Was it joy they felt when someone asked them to be theirs, or when someone asked to become one of their possessions? Is that what a person asked when they said ‘be mine’? And when my mind failed to give me an answer I looked back at the text and the next explanation was given on ‘absurdity of love’ in which the first absurdity was “we want to possess the beloved.” That was a surprising revelation for me, but not wrong. The author stood correct in his path. We did want to possess the person we felt love for, wanted them to be ours and no one else’s. We wanted them committed to us and no one else and their attention to us and no one else. Such absurdity it did seem. The next was that we wanted our love to last for someone forever and forever meant exceeding our mortal life and the mortal life of this world. That made me feel how when expressing themselves towards the person they love people forget the meaning a word actually holds just to make someone feel special. Their minds defy logic when they fall in love. “Not all of us can do great things. But we can do small things with great love.” Mother Teresa. The author ends their text with mentioning the love for humanity and mentioning that the love for it exists between wisdom and ignorance. And I agreed. If someone can know the difference between ignorance and wisdom, they will know what they longed for. The same was for truth and untruth and the others they mentioned. The love existed by knowing the difference between these things and realizing what is it that you want in your life. When you realize that, you know what you want. Love is actually being enlightened or revealed of the truths you desire. Read More