Originally posted: http://bendench.blogspot.com/2009/06/on-love.html
Does love exist?
Yes. Love is everything.
What is the nature of love?
Love, as a sentiment:
–the 7 principles of the Kahuna
Aloha is a profound and pure concept. Used as a greeting both coming and going, its closest translation is love, but in that love has become such a bastardized word in English, this does not do Aloha justice. Aloha means I accept you totally, I love you totally. It means, to me you are perfect—in you I see no blemish. When we judge something, we see it not as an end in itself but as a means to our own ends. Does it serve me? Seeing something as imperfect is nothing more than seeing in it qualities that you, subjectively, reject. But loving something, seeing it as perfect, loving it for everything that it is and not in spite of certain qualities, means appreciating the thing as an end in itself—truly making contact with it. In our world, love is something you work up to—it sits atop some impossible pinnacle. Should I tell them I love them? Do I really love them? But when it comes to Aloha, love is the base. It is the foundation. It is what makes any relationship possible. It is an openness. A decision. I love you. I accept you. You are perfect. We are one. You are me. I accept you totally. This is the essential. Without Aloha, there is nothing. That is why it is a greeting both coming and going.
Love is joy associated with an object.
–Spinoza
Love is the feeling that something frees us. Joy is the feeling that one’s power is growing. Although relatively something may be considered as freeing or limiting us, empowering or blocking us, in reality everything frees us and enhances our existence. The system is self-refining. To love something is to take joy in it as an end in itself.
Love, metaphysically:
Love is oneness with that which one loves. Everything is in reality intimately interconnected with everything else. The experience of love is the experience of the reality of the situation—often localized.
Whereas to say that one likes something is to say that something is like one—“I like playing soccer”—“playing soccer reflects me”—to say that one loves something is to take this a step farther and express a unity with it. It is to say “we are inseparable and form a whole—an understanding of me would have to include this as an aspect of me.”
Love, as an intention:
Love is saying yes to something—affirming it.
On some level everyone says yes to everything, because fundamentally all things are of the same essence. Everything is the Will to Power/the Instinct for Freedom/Life’s Longing for Itself/The Love of Existence. In that you are the Will to Power, and nothing besides, you will and affirm the Will to Power in all of its incarnations. With any particular incarnation it is only a matter of whether you are doing this more or less directly.
Love, as a behavior:
In this sense love is not about how you feel about me, but about how you make me feel. More accurately, those actions that free an object can be considered loving actions in relation to that object. Actions that limit an object can be considered hateful actions in relation to that object. Again, while things enhance or detract from one another relatively, ultimately all things enhance all other things as a result of their all being of the same fundamental essence. Every action is an action of love. It is just a matter of it being more or less directly an action of love.
Love, in relation to need:
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