Carpe Diem #925 Love

Dear Haijin, visitors and travelers,

Earlier this day I published a new CDHK e-book on Troiku, you can download it for free at the right side of our Kai. I think it has become a beauty ... I wish you all a happy read ...

Today our new episode on senses is Love and earlier this month we had an episode of Tokubetsudesu about love ... so maybe this continues that post or opens your eyes to look in another way at love. I did like the essay on love which Hamish wrote.

Introduction

I love to share a quote from the above mentioned Tokubetsudesu episode:

[...] "Haiku is love, a love that grabs you by the throat and takes you into an adventure to discover the beauty of our world in all her beautiful details and bring that into the tiny form of haiku that shows us a scene, a moment that lasts only one heart beat." [...] 

And here to introduce love ... a haiku which I wrote several years ago:

the last steps taken
to find universal love -
the sound of rain

© Chèvrefeuille (2014)

Hamish on love

Is love an emotion? If this was so, would it not change constantly, like other emotions? The concept of love might be chemical, and scientific, but it could also be defined as one of the senses. "What is love" was the most searched phrase on Google in 2012. Biologically, love is a powerful neurological condition like hunger or thirst, only more permanent. We talk about love being blind or unconditional, in the sense that we have no control over it. But then, that is not so surprising since love is basically chemistry. While lust is a temporary passionate sexual desire involving the increased release of chemicals such as testosterone and oestrogen, in true love, or attachment and bonding, the brain can release a whole set of chemicals: pheromones, dopamine, norepinephrine, serotonin, oxytocin and vasopressin. However, from an evolutionary perspective, love can be viewed as a survival tool – a mechanism we have evolved to promote long-term relationships, mutual defense and parental support of children and to promote feelings of safety and security.

Spiritual Love

Unlike us, the ancients did not lump all the various emotions that we label "love" under the one word. They had several variations, including Philia which they saw as a deep but usually non-sexual intimacy between close friends and family members or as a deep bond forged by soldiers as they fought alongside each other in battle. Ludus describes a more playful affection found in fooling around or flirting. Pragma is the mature love that develops over a long period of time between long-term couples and involves actively practicing goodwill, commitment, compromise and understanding. Agape is a more generalized love, it's not about exclusivity but about love for all of humanity. Philautia is self love, which isn't as selfish as it sounds. As Aristotle discovered and as any psychotherapist will tell you, in order to care for others you need to be able to care about yourself. Last, and probably least even though it causes the most trouble, eros is about sexual passion and desire. Unless it morphs into philia and/or pragma, eros will burn itself out. Love is all of the above. But is it possibly unrealistic to expect to experience all six types with only one person. This is why family and community are important. What love is depends on where you are in relation to it. Secure in it, it can feel as mundane and necessary as air – you exist within it, almost unnoticing. Deprived of it, it can feel like an obsession; all consuming, a physical pain.

Love ... renew it every day ...

Love is the driver for all great stories: not just romantic love, but the love of parent for child, for family, for country. It is the point before consummation of it that fascinates: what separates you from love, the obstacles that stand in its way. It is usually at those points that love is everything. Love is more easily experienced than defined. Can you show love through a haiku?

My response

Love ... we all know what it is and what it can be ... Love can be caught in haiku too. Here are a few haiku from my archives to show that love can be caught in haiku.

watching a geisha
monk from high up in the mountains
he's also a man

© Chèvrefeuille

she ... the moon
affectionate love for ever
illuminates my path

© Chèvrefeuille

She ... the moon ... once it was said that same gender love belonged to the night, they had to hide, so their love was only seen in the light of the full moon. She ... the moon ... their only friend.

affectionate love
shared between two similar hearts
in full moonlight
they finally could kiss each other
She ... the moon ... their only friend

© Chèvrefeuille

As I look at our time now, than we see / hear here in The Netherlands that same gender love is accepted, but there are growing signs that the acceptance of same gender love is in heavy waters. Let us hope (and pray) that this will not be a time in which unconditional love will be lost forever ...

This episode is NOW OPEN for your submissions and will remain open until February 27th at noon (CET). I will (try to) publish our next episode, nature, later on. For now ... have fun!