True Love

The question has been asked for centuries: is there such a thing as "true love". Religion, especially Christianity, tells us that true love has to be real; that our heavenly father loved us so much he sent his only begotten son to die on the cross for our sins. Now, that is a completely different discussion altogether, but I suppose the principle remains the same; did God mean for each and every to one of us to fall head over heels in love with someone, and did he use the salvation plan as a basis for this? First off, allow us for a moment to take away the religious aspect of this little topic to find the true human nature lying within everyone.

Human nature is very funny and odd, at times. We realize that somewhere deep within us we all have a sense of right and wrong, good and evil, fair and unfair; there are those human beings out there, however, who either have a different sense of what is right and wrong or just do not care. Each and every individual on this planet has some sort or "moral compass" that tells us what we're doing is wrong, or that what we are doing is right of "Godly". Taking out the religious aspect only further reinforces this, because even atheists who believe in nothing have some sort of conscious.

What about the nature of love and hatred, though? Is each of us born with an innate sense of love and kinship toward our fellow man? Do we as humans have to learn to love one another? How can we even go about figuring this out? While surfing through various sites on the internet in preparation for this entry, I have found some very differing opinions on this matter, but I think ultimately what it boils down to is this: we each are born with a natural ability to love, but the way we are nurtured throughout our lives--most importantly our infant and toddler years--will have a very large impact on how we show affection or love to others, or if we even show love and affection or feel love and affection for them at all. Love is a very complex emotion, as it brings up many questions and debates and the feelings associated with love are themselves a bit odd and hard to manage at times. There is an old expression that goes "Love makes you do stupid things", and I believe this is completely true. However, we still haven't delved into the real nature of this blog entry: is there such a thing as "true love"?

I am sure many people will have differing opinions on this one, and I myself have very conflicting inner feelings over whether or not "true love" exists. I have the old "hippie" mentality in that I "love" everyone, regardless or race, sexual orientation, gender, or social class. However, I am not sure if I buy into the whole "fairy tale ending" cliche anymore. Sure, deep down I am a hopeless romantic, but at the same time I am a realist; a realist who realizes that people can be conniving back stabbers who will sell you out simply to better their own lives or careers or relationships with others; a realist who also realizes that "true love" seems to only happen in Hollywood motion pictures. So, does that mean we are all destined to go our entire lives simply thinking we are in love with someone? Since our minds are thinking we are in love anyways, does that mean we truly are in love? After all, all truth is based on perception. Question the existence of "true love", question the nature of love itself, and you may find yourself being just as cynical about romance and the entire human race as me one day.

"No one is born hating another person because of the color of his skin, or his background, or his religion. People must learn to hate, and if they can learn to hate, they can be taught to love, for love comes more naturally to the human heart than its opposite." - Nelson Mandella