THE thing about love is that you can’t take it too seriously. Like strong medicine, too much of it can kill you. Everything in moderation, they say. But how many among us can fall in love without losing themselves in the process? Perhaps, only those 45 and up. But how many of those 45 and up can still fall in love? Hmm...
Perhaps, we secretly and subconsciously desire the act of losing ourselves because when we do, we are able to do things we otherwise would not have the daring to do during our saner moments.
In regard to alcohol intake, a friend who has passed on to the next life articulated it well. “When you’re drunk, you find the courage to do things you otherwise would not have the boldness to do in your sober moments.”
Perhaps, it’s the same thing with love. We want to fall in love and be swept by it because in that state of delirium, we are able to temporarily set aside the mundane and morose of the daily grind.
The orgasmic experience is an escape—-an escape from reality for a while with emphasis on the words, “for a while.” The orgasmic experience does not last. As we all know, even fugitives stop running after a while. No one can keep up with that kind of adrenaline. It’s exhausting after some time.
When we pursue the orgasmic experience, we should understand that we do not seek clarity but rather numbness in life. Whether we seek it through sex, alcohol, drugs or some other mind-numbing experience, the orgasmic experience has the same goal—-sensation NOT experience.
Pleasure is sensation. Love is experience. They are NOT the same. We should not forget.
Love begins as an emotional experience. On a higher dimension, love becomes an intellectual and spiritual commitment. But let me quickly add that love as a commitment is both passionate and painful. Love is not an experience without cost or consequence.
So love if you must. And perhaps we must. But remember that what you see in the movies is not real life. The movies do not tell you what happens AFTER. They only film up to...and they lived happily ever after. Reality begins after the credits roll.
Those who say that love is not sacrifice have never truly loved. That or you’re 44 going 14. As my 14 going 44 year old niece would like to put it, “Ah...she hasn’t awakened.” Even she understands the temporal state of the orgasmic experience.
For love to last, it must overcome hate. It must overcome boredom, disappointment, heartbreak. It must overcome pain, treachery, betrayal. Love requires patience, forbearance, magnanimity.
Not all of us choose to love forever—-because forever is too long to bear for many of us. But if you are one of the blessed ones who have been called to a lifetime of loving someone then count your blessings but know that there is a cost to everything.
Don’t take love too seriously—-although, if you’ve reached this line, you probably do. Well—-so do I.
