I find myself trying to find an analogy for Love. A simile to describe what Love means. An Avatar, if you will. Something concrete that helps define the elusive, esoteric and God-like presence in our lives that we call Love.
Love as Hope fails to appreciate the pessimistic nature of Lost Love. Love as Unity fails to account for the discord and strife caused by Love. Love as Paradise dismisses the Hell Love eventually leads us to. Love as Benevolent disregards the misery and spite of the thing.
After so many attempts at defining Love through the lens of the thing we want or desire it to be, I now compare Love to the reality of the way it impacts.
Holding a mirror against Love reveals Love as the ultimate Sin. Ultimate, because it is an amalgamation of all the Sins. A Super-Sin, if you will.
Love is the Lord thy God. Or, at least, we treat it as such. The sacrifices we make for Love. Love is the Alter upon which we worship Love, and makes Love our true religion. Love is the God we put before our Lord. We sacrifice everything for Love. We sacrifice self-actualization and self-determination. We sacrifice food, shelter and safety for Love. We even sacrifice our spiritual beliefs for Love.
Love is the quintessential graven image. Valentine’s Day, Sweetest Day, roses, Teddy bears and all of the other things we do to show love. We tattoo ourselves for Love. We carve ourselves for Love. We build statues in the name of Love, and submit burnt offerings to Love.
Love is taken vain. In every conceivable vain. We curse it. We spit upon it. We blaspheme Love, and blaspheme God in the name of Love. Love has become, to many of us, an epithet. The cursed Curse. We wish love, not as a blessing, but as condemnation.
We work for Love, even on the Sabbath. What’s more, Love is never to be remembered on the days and the times that we seek to hold it most holy. We often spend days and weeks forgetting Love. Forcing it from our minds. Love is neither paid reverence, not is it vacated for the reverence of relief.
In the name of love, we honor no one. Mothers and Fathers are the first to be sacrificed at the Alter of love. We have all disrespected the law of our homes for Love.
We Kill in the name of Love. Enough said.
We commit adultery in the name of Love. Just look to your neighbor. Look to the media. Look to your past. The addiction of Love puts in the mind thoughts of new loves, while selfishly holding on to old Love.
Poetically, we are guilty of theft in the name of Love. We steal each other’s hearts. But, practically speaking, we steal materially for. Time at work spent talking and texting. Stealing moments to be together. Even flat our robbing for Love.
We bear false witness in the name of Love. We lie to everyone about Love, and the state of Love. But, worst of all, we lie to ourselves about Love and being in Love.
And we covet Love. As destructive as Love is, when we don’t have it, we want it. And when we have it, we want someone else’s.