Romantic Love

 Romantic Love

Recently we've been watching the early episodes of a TV show entitled Manifest. Passengers on a plane land arriving back after a few hour flight to find themselves in a time five years into the future. Hijinks ensue. It's complicated.

Almost as preposterous as that series The Dome where an entire township suddenly finds itself covered and isolated under a huge glass-like dome. [Cocaine creativity? Well, somebody's using all that dope. And, judging by the so many ridiculous storylines out there, yeah, something "extra" is for sure fueling all that bogus creativity.]

On with the show ...

One young woman who finally decides to accept a marriage proposal while on that return flight discovers her beloved boyfriend is now two years married ... to her best friend! A father travelling separately from the rest of the family [due to overbooking] with his young son comes back to his wife and now teenage twin daughter. Problem is that his wife has found a new love, and it's serious. The daughter also had bonded with the new guy. The new love was just about to move in when the husband comes back from the dead.

Perfectly understandable dilemma. The tale is in how it will unfold. Raises so many questions.

So, let's talk about love.

What is love? We use the word ubiquitously. I love Ice Cream. I love my Mother. I l love Pizza. I love you. Get it? Love stories. Songs of love; about love. Love found, love lost. Love in the back seat. And, we use the word in a way that assumes we all know exactly what it is we're referring to when we utter that beloved four-letter word.

In the final analysis, Love cannot be defined. I don't think so. It just is. God is Love. Really? Then, how do you explain the Democrats? Just kidding. Sorry. Not.

Romantic love, however, as I said, there's no shortage of descriptions and definitions. We've all been "In Love". So taken by another that it seems there is no other choice than to win them over and hold them close ... forever, and ever. Something like that. Right? It's a great feeling. You don't want it to stop. It can be so consuming that you can't think of anything else. So, you latch on to the object of your love. Happily ever after. Or, so you would want.

So here's the deal: Is that feeling you feel as love coming to you from the beloved? Or, is the beloved merely a projection of the love that is innate, already there is full measure? Good question, huh?

If you're woke to "Samsara" you know that what's called romantic love is an economic driver. A central item in the human myth. What makes the world go round. So if you're into Samsara you go about looking for all kinds of things. Love, for sure. You marry for love. The divorce, when [as it will] the bloom is off the rose and there are other fresh flowers out there for the picking.

Romantic love. Perhaps the greatest delusion in the history of the species. Not that great feeling of love in our hearts. No, the notion that the feeling of love is something from the outside, something to obtain, something to hold on to.

I can't prove any of that. Just posing the question. Decide for yourself. It's a toughy. When Cupid strikes, we're all suckers for love. Yet, there's also the choice to unpack the love that is already there, complete and unalloyed, right there in the center of every heart. Maybe, just to go there.

There's lots of guidance on that path. If you care to live in Love. Not just with it.