Today I have been thinking about love. There are many different types of love. There is the love you have for a lover, a spouse or partner, family members, your children, your pets, your friends and your fellow man/woman. There is the love you have for places, things and sensations. Love is not a fixed entity, it changes its shape colour and texture, by that I mean it changes as time progresses, sometimes for good, sometimes for ill. There is good love and bad love. Good love lifts your spirit and enriches your soul, it affects the way you think, the things you do and most of all the way you feel. Bad love is something entirely different, it may feel good but inevitably it sours your soul. How can you tell the difference? I think the answer to that is complex and will vary from person to person. I do believe love is the strongest emotion we feel, it is far stronger than hate. But I do not believe that love will always prevail, like truth and honesty, love is sometimes sacrificed on the alter of expediency, profit or victory.
The Clod and the Pebble
"Love seeketh not itself to please,
Nor for itself hath any care,
But for another gives its ease,
And builds a heaven in hell's despair."
So sung a little Clod of Clay,
Trodden with the cattle's feet,
But a Pebble of the brook
Warbled out these metres meet:
"Love seeketh only Self to please,
To bind another to its delight,
Joys in another's loss of ease,
And builds a hell in heaven's despite."
Willliam Blake From: ‘Songs of Innocence and Experience’
Song for the day
Hi Silvawings
I always find the idea of love much less damaging than the reality. Hence I spend most of my life in fantasy worlds. Ha! Ha!
I think there are different kinds of love but maybe they all stem from the same place. Not that I know.
In regards to romantic love, I have spent my life getting that wrong and now I view it with scepticism. My alarm signals tend to go off very early.
I would say that parental relationsips have the biggest impact on an individual. Is that understatement of the century? Hence I am fiercely loyal and have a massive sense of duty but often find love a total chore. I lost the plot big time!
Comment by Mandy — July 21, 2008 @ 9:03 am
I love (oh the irony) that poem by Blake. I used to find it really interesting that people tended to only quote the first part of it without knowing the second and it really does need to be taken as one for the message to keep its resonance.
Comment by cb — July 21, 2008 @ 10:47 pm