A few days ago I found myself sitting quietly on a tram in the city of Melbourne.
As I gazed out of the heavily etched windows of the tram, I got lost in a far away state of thinking as I often did. But this time, I reflected upon a topic that I don't usually give much thought to,
love.
And in my few moments of contemplation I came upon some fairly basic, but quite enlightening realisations.
I. Love is Power
The great philosopher Machiavelli once said something along the lines of:
"It is better to be feared than loved, because fear can be controlled, whilst love cannot."
Whilst this is true, I believe that love is much more powerful than fear.
A dog may do a trick, because he fears the punishment from a vengeful owner.
But he will risk his life to pull a drowning master from a lake, because the master loved him first.
A soldier may train hard, out of fear of punishment and embarassment.
But he will give his life for the love of his country.
But I cannot control love, so therefore I cannot use its power.
However, what I can do is allow love to control me...
No, I do not mean basing my life on lusty passions, or momentary desires.
I do not mean blindly throwing yourself around every time your pulse quickens.
This is the path to self destruction and the destruction of everything around you.
I mean to allow love be the driving force, and the goal behind the things you do.
If you allow love to be your motivation and reason behind your actions, you can achieve something truly great.
Take a girl out for dinner, not because you want to have sex with her, but because you love her.
Work hard, not because you fear punishment, but because you love seeing the results.
Fight, not because you hate something, but because you love something enough to fight for it.
Even at just a glance, the people that have achieved truly wonderful things out of this world, did so out of love.
-Nelson Mandela loved the idea of equality and a land free of Apartheid and he even showed love to his prison guards, so he found freedom and ended up becoming the president of South Africa.
-Martin Luther King Jr. and Malcolm X loved their people, so they brought them freedom.
-Mother Theresa loved anyone and everyone, her love made this world a better place.
Adolf Hitler, Joseph Stalin and Mao Zedong.
Their actions may have had more influence, and it is debatable that they would have had a greater impact on humanity.
But their actions were based on lust, greed, lunacy and a senseless thirst for power.
While their motives seemed logical, whilst their causes can be argued as just in some senses....
They brought the world nothing but harm and suffering, they never achieved their goal.
They didn't get any closer to a perfect world, not even the twisted concept that they each possesesed.
And you want to know why?
Because they did not act out of love.
Act out of love, not out of fear or hatred.
And by doing this you can accomplish and become something much more powerful than yourself.
II. Love is Uncontrollable
Love is like the weather,
It can can be like sunshine, and bring a smile to your face,
It can be nice and warm, making you feel great inside,
It can be a gentle breeze that caresses you,
It can be a balmy summer's evening shared between yourself and someone special,
Or it can be rain, turning your smile upside down,
It can be a biting frost, leaving you cold and alone,
It can be hail, bringing you pain as it strikes against your flesh,
It can be a devestating hurricane laying waste to everything around you,
You can hide from love, like you can hide from a storm.
But be aware, if you take shelter from the storm you are also blocking yourself out from all the other things love has to offer.
If you hide from love you may never feel the cold rain, but you will never feel the warm sunshine.
But if you are brave enough to push through the storm, you will see the sunlight.
You can decide how you act towards love, whether you choose to hide from it or to embrace its pleasures.
You can take shelter in loneliness, loneliness will never hurt you as much as heartbreak can, but you can never know true happiness without someone else.
But however you choose to act towards love, it still remains out there. Even if you try to hide from it, love still exists and it is uncontrollable and unstoppable.
Like the weather, you cannot control love,
at best, you can predict where it will go.
You cannot choose who you love or who you like.
There might be someone who's best for you in every way, but you don't feel for them.
There isn't that pull, that attraction, your mind adds up all the pieces and that person is perfect for you.
But your heart screams to be with someone else.
When it comes to love towards another person, we cannot choose where it directs us.
Love grabs us by the wrists and throws us around as it pleases.
We are left helpless, like puppets to an unseen master.
The uncontrollability and unpredictability of love is an everlasting and unchangeable fact, just like how the sun must rise and set and how it must rain on some days and shine on others.
The only thing that we can do, is hang on and enjoy the ride.
After swinging through all these refreshing thoughts on a very well worn topic, I feel I have tackled the high wire and may even be verging on a trapeze artist! Some amazing, arresting insights!
ReplyDeleteI am going to advertise this post on my own blog and try to encourage some of my readers to enjoy this!
Please keep writing!
Back again! As promised, I have just advertised you on my blog! I so hope you get some traffic to this post + some comment!
ReplyDeleteYour views on love are thoughtful and insightful. Love, indeed, is out there as a force which cannot be denied. Like the wind, it can direct you or swamp you, depending upon how you set your sails.
ReplyDeleteI came here initially due to Greyscale, but I will return because of your writing. Keep the dream alive in your heart. Its light will guide you when all else seems dark. Roland
I have just received an email or two from a gentleman who works in the media. He has checked out this post. Here are some excerpts from his email to me.
ReplyDeleteEmail 1 - "I just checked out Paulo’s blog and yes, the writing is very powerful, across many moods. He certainly has the gift.
As you probably know, part of my mission is to encourage gifted writers to get published."
Email 2 - "Tell Paulo from me to enter the Age Short Story competition. But most of all, tell him to keep writing, because that is by far the best training for a gifted writer.
Yes, we all need regular income – which is why I work full-time as a journo (I am the Opinion editor of the Herald Sun and a former production editor of The Age) but I write novels in whatever spare time I can find. I do not compromise on my time with my family, so I write in little blocks, with the simple, modest aim of writing only 300 words a day."
DO IT!!!!!