Hmm. I’m reminded of a “go-to” (oh how I despise when I hear that ceaselessly parroted phrase) quote of mine.
Or. Perhaps love means different things to different people. Or, perhaps, there are different levels or understandings of love that some can access while others (currently) cannot.
Is the “love” one feel’s for one’s child as he or she opens his or her eyes each morning and gazes upon the person a different experience than if one were a paid caretaker watching the same process in a stranger’s child who according to basic rights and virtue, is of equal importance? Or are we simply projecting our own self-love and desire for innocence, rebirth, purity, or immortality upon a helpless, defenseless being thus objectifying a human life as but another object to reach a means to our ego’s end?
If we do call this love, what is the “love” of seeing a person who we believe brutally murdered this child being executed, perhaps brutally and outside of the “relatively” civilized and humane judicial process?
Is there a difference at all? Surely there must be. We must pin down these differences lest they pin us down. Don’t you agree?
Some practitioners of Stoicism believe all emotion is inherently irrational, that is not to say foolish or useless, but ultimately conforms to something that is not logical or rational, therefore a distraction or perhaps “obstacle” in true peace and purpose. Not necessarily and automatically a prohibiting factor in experiencing a life of true contentment (or contentedness, which you prefer) but a common stumbling block best either removed or at the very least identified and consciously “watched out for” throughout the course of one’s life. Do you view that point of view as fair?
As far as romantic or sexual emotion or “love” is concerned, I feel if we did not let our romantic or familiar partners defy logic or perhaps compromise our virtues, values, and morals every now and again (or for some, constantly), we would have likely lost them to those who hold weaker or less strict standards, and not have been alive today. We turn a blind eye to when our kids or those we care about commit acts we fundamentally know are wrong, even when they could very well be harmful to the very person we profess to care about. Some people call this a fundamental flaw in human emotion. A biological drive, a deep and indecipherable desperation that merely masquerades as love. What would you call it?