Tuesday, November 14, 2006

Welcome to my Love and Romance blog

Welcome to my Love and Romance blog. Love and the nature of love and romance has been a mystery since the beginning of time.
"Falling in Love" is a common myth in this society. There is a differentiation to be made between what is termed "falling in love" and the act of real loving. Peck describes exactly what it is that we experience when We think we have fallen in love. Much of what Peck describes as falling in love has to do with what he calls "ego boundaries". These ego boundaries are established during infancy and continue to develop throughout the person's life. These boundaries represent an individual's limits with their mental and physical power, as they are perceived by the individual. With these ego boundaries many people feel confined into their own personal identity which generally creates a feeling of loneliness. A need to form a cathexis is then developed. Peck describes it thus, "The essence of the phenomenon of falling in love is a sudden collapse of a section of an individual's ego boundaries, permitting one to merge his or her identity with that of another person. The Sudden release of oneself from oneself, the explosive pouring out of oneself into the beloved, and the dramatic surcease of loneliness accompanying this collapse of ego boundaries is experienced by most of us as ecstatic. We and the beloved are one! Loneliness is no more!"
Now it is not to say that the feeling of having fallen in love means that there in no hope for true love to grow from it. Many loving relationships do form on these grounds. However, It is after the inevitable diminishing of this fervent emotional overload that true love is put to the test, and the result of the relationship will either fail or prosper. It has been said that the "magic" of any romance dies, a statement to which I can only accede to. Genuine love therefore will be established and continue to mature long after this feeling has ceased.
What then is true love? I suppose I should know what it is if I intend to have it grow out of a simple cathexis. As Peck describes it, love is "The will to extend one's self for the purpose of nurturing one's own or another's spiritual growth."
Love then seems to fall into place as one of the key elements involved in enlightenment. To fully reach an individual's peak of spiritual potential, it seems imperative for a person to form a loving relationship with another person. There is so much to be gained from a bond between two individuals, which is most commonly the underlying motive for finding someone to connect with. Whether they are conscious of it or not, many people have a desire to find a companion from whom they can grow, whether it be intellectually, romantically, spiritually, or any other means of progression that is to be gained from that experience. Moreover, It is an integral part of any relationship to have the same desire to provide the stimulation that is necessary to inspire the other person's spiritual growth. For true love to succeed it must be as much of a giving experience as a receiving one.

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