What is Love? - Pizza Love
Exploring what drives us
I love pizza, but does pizza love me? …do I just love her for her looks
What is Love?
Words with too much meaning start to lose their meaning. I mean…, I love pizza, but does pizza love me? Is my love for pizza unconditional, regardless if she is fresh, stale, or Hawaiian style? Does my love for pizza strive for her happiness, even if I may suffer? Or do I just love her for her looks and the other sensual delights she gives me?
Definitions do matter
The rasa theory, the relationship theory, of the yoga tradition starts off by defining that love is between two individuals and that such love, in a pure state, strives for the happiness of the other party without other motives. A simple example is the mother’s care for her baby. Such love and care may come at her expense, but to her, it is worth it if the baby is happy. There we see that my pizza affection cannot be put in the category of love according to such a definition. For love is one or two parties caring for the happiness and well-being of the other.
Core care
The wanting to show care is core to all. That propensity extends out from every individual. At first, a person extends care from himself to his parents and then to his family. But the need to express care is there in the individual themselves, for even if a person doesn’t have a spouse or a girlfriend, they will likely desire a dog or a cat. That push to give love, care, and serve others is inherent within everyone. It may stretch further to one’s own community or nation. It can extend even broader, to all of humanity, or nature, or even the universe itself. This may be compared to a drop of water on a leaf. If a leaf were to hold the water, like a little cup, it would not benefit the leaf. If the water were to glide down that leaf’s twigs, then the potential benefit increases. If it were to glide down the branches and reach the trunk, then all the better. Best is, however, if that water were to then come all the way down to the root. That gives the highest potential that all the other parts of the tree will benefit.
Leaves on a tree
We are like leaves on a tree. We should not hold the water of care just to ourselves, but we should let it go past us, the further out towards the root, and the more we will be benefited. If I only care for myself, I will find that I will not be happy. If I care for my family, I will be more fulfilled. If I stretch that care to a larger circle of the nation, the universe, and so on, I will find myself all the more fulfilled. If, however, I can stretch that tendency to care towards the root of all existence, the Divinity, God, I will find myself the most fulfilled. This is because the root nourishes all. That is the most fulfilling love.