zekko said:
What a sad, cynical, jaded, pathetic thing to say. To take a thing like love and reduce it down to a power game, that is truly revolting. However, I have to agree with you.
The problem is that the person who is loved more will feel more valued, and when the person feels they have higher value they will start thinking they can get a higher value mate. There's the temptation. Or they can stay in the relationship and maintain the "upper hand", or "frame" as some call it.
I prefer to have the frame myself because I trust myself with what to do with it. You never know what the other person is thinking.
I thought falling in love WAS oneitis actually. Sort of like a code word. I think it's all the same thing. Some people say if it's unhealthy it isn't love, it's infatuation. But I think it's all the same thing, the same emotion. If you love someone who doesn't love you back, people try to cushion the blow by saying "that's not really love, it's infatuation". Or oneitis, I guess.
I agree it is a cynical way of thinking. Love can either be a power game or something that's natural. It's in the way you perceive it. Many of the teachings on this site says that love can be triggered by certain actions.
I believe in the words that Albert Einstein said:
"
There are only two ways to live your life. One is as though nothing is a miracle. The other is as though everything is a miracle."
I believe the way you think determines whether falling in love is a good thing or bad thing. If love to you is a constant power struggle and a mechanical game, then you won't find happiness in it.
If you see love as a natural phenomenon and embrace it as it is, you can live in a world of happiness.
Love can be a power struggle or a mechanical game, if you really look deep into it, biological and psychologically. But does understanding the truth really make us happy?
The argument is, is ignorance really bliss? Is it better to take the red pill instead of the blue pill?
Most of us can be jaded by love, if we let the past heartbreaks get to us. It's a survival mechanism because we don't want to get hurt again and experience the pain of a lost love.
But being "on guard" all the time, lessen the amount we can truly express ourselves, which is quite detrimental to our self well-being.
Many teachings of this site is geared towards getting layed. Love on the other hand is an entirely different thing.
In my personal opinion, love is more of an action than a feeling. Infatuation is where you feel like you "love" something and feel as though you want them so bad where you'd be willing to go to great lengths to achieve that.
Love is simply an action. It's what you do that shows love. It's not something that you just "feel".
We all wanna find love someday, even the hardcore players who are total womanizers. We humans are very social creatures and naturally dislike the feeling of loneliness. I mean isn't that why we're on this site in the first place?
To conclude what I'm saying, love is a good thing if you let it be. If can be a bad thing if you let it be. It's all in how you perceive reality.
-SchoolBoy