“What does love mean if we would deny it to others?” ― DaShanne Stokes

Write out your definition of true love. Now have someone you know do the same. Compare your answers. Its amazing isn’t it? The power of perspective is a very influential tool. Now consider this: Can you love more than one person? Does love mean forever? Does love mean a day? Does love mean monogamy? Does same sex love count? Does love mean celibacy? Does love mean sex? Does love mean talking everyday? Can you love someone you’ve never met? Who decides what love is? Why does society as a whole even get a say? Does love consist of a checklist with boxes on either side of the page to check? Does love consist of a conversation to determine if this version happens to be true or not?

My belief is that love is a product of its environment. Every couple (notice the non-specification of gender, race, age, religion or any other identifying factor?) has a bond that becomes their own. In the way a potter works to shape a pot over time, individuals must be forever diligent in the pursuit of perfection. While in reality however, perfection may be impossible to reach. But we can stop and ask ourselves, “Is it?” Would you as an individual prefer to proclaim that you just sat back and became stagnant, for perfection is unreachable? Or that you blew caution to the wind and chased after perfection living life in the saddle until the end of your days? I myself hold to the opinion that those who come to the realization that perfection truly is the opinion of those on the inside looking out, garner the ability to transcend in the direction of a more advantageous life. Proof that the existing bonds between souls are so unique to those who embrace possession or even to those who believe they are blessed with them, that outsiders will never even begin to fully understand them. Couples who develop a deeper understanding of both themselves and of each other are often better equipped in carving the foundation for their love.

The love expressed from a mother to her child. The love expressed from a mother to her significant other. The love expressed from a mother toward life. The love expressed from a child to their mother. The love expressed from a child toward reading. The love expressed from a dog in sight of a bone. Even the feeling expressed by an addict when experiencing their vice. What truly is the difference? Is it even fair to tell someone you love them? You’re condemning them to a life of subconscious questioning. Is this true love? Am I settling? Is this what it is supposed to feel like?

The Norwegian language has a word, forelsket, which means “the feeling when you know you’re first falling in love.” Although the word itself is untranslatable, this beautiful term is used globally to describe the pins and needles and the butterflies that accompany the emotion for many but not all. It addresses the point that love has the ability to affect the body in a physical sense. Thus the chilling realization that love can be the feeling that fills your body with warmth but could also be the knife driving into your chest. How can a simple concept effect your body in such ways? Magic? Divinity? What are people able to hold inside themselves that allows them to harness enough power to affect others? What about them is so special?

What is it that draws two people toward each other? An internal magnet? That’s unrealistic. Let’s be serious. Is it a common destiny? Yuanfen (a relationship by fate or destiny, the binding force between two people), location? Societal need? Everyone on the planet has at least a handful of things in common with Hitler, with Stalin or maybe Napoleon? How can it be the fate of people to spend their entire life looking? Could fate be that cruel? Those born many miles away from each other will most likely never meet, right? What if they do? Instant love at the clap of someone’s hand?

Love is a commodity not shared equally throughout the global society, going to show that every attraction is different. The draw has to be unique. It has to be. For me it’s all about the eyes. Depth. Love. Darkness. Light. Tragedy. Hope. Experience. Fear. Tranquility. Knowledge. Every pair is unique. Deception is becoming ever more common in today’s society with elements such as laser surgery and colored contacts making them hard to read. But regardless, every pair tells a story not of reality, but of life. Sentiments, nearly invisible, lay insulated inside individuals so deeply that people never even think to look. Yet your eyes are the gateway to the soul.

Delve deeply: aspirations, irrational fears, past history -- all entombed in the deep. Delve deep into someone’s eyes and just maybe you’ll catch a glimpse. Release yourself to your partner and allow them to take control. So beginning the flow of understanding. The flow of trust begins to branch out and expand. Unlock the vault and release raw emotion. An individual ceases to be hidden at this point. Existing both completely concealed but residing naked beyond the slightest degree of all deceptions. Let forth the deep animalistic instinct. Don’t hold back. Let forth everything that is hidden and only then will you truly understand all that is somatic. Here, love is born. Here, love is cultivated. Here, love begins to grow. Only once you experience someone to their deepest extent can you truly begin to understand them.

But what is love?

What is life?