A few days ago I got asked by someone “What do you think is love?”
“What do I think love is?” I replied, “My thoughts are the same as everyone else, it’s an emotion, a feeling”
“No I meant what is your definition of love?” The other person asked.
This question left me thinking for a few moments. While the ancient Greeks defined and identified four forms of love: kinship, friendship, sexual and/or romantic, and divine love, below is how I ended up defining it.
Taj Mahal
“Ever heard of Darwin’s theory?” I asked.
“You mean of Evolution? I read it back in school but don’t remember it anymore” Other person replied.
“No not the entire theory of evolution, just the “survival of the fittest part”. Do you remember it?”
“I think I do but refresh my memory”
“Well It wasn’t actually Darwin who coined this term but it was Herbert Spencer” I started to explain.
“Whoever came up with it, what does it mean?”
“Over the time the terms has been defined in several ways but more or less it boils down to the fact that the one who is fittest outlives or out-survives others. The one best capable of finding means of living, adapting to the environment will survive and the weaker ones will perish or go extinct. There is another one such theory by Darwin called “Every man for himself” which is kind of related to it”
“Why are we talking about Geeks?” The other person asked.
“Because my friend, Love is when Darwin’s theory fails”
“How?”
“Because when you are in love, then it’s not every man for himself anymore. It is not survival of the fittest anymore because if the fittest is deeply in love with a weaker one, he or she will put the survival of the loved one first. For example, take example of your father and mother. When you were an infant, they put your survival above their own. They would first see you well fed and clothed before them. They would rather see you alive even if it meant that they would have to die. That feeling, my friend, of giving up everything for someone else is love. That emotion of putting someone else’s needs before your own is love. In romantic ways, If you met meet a girl who became so important for you that you start putting her needs before your own, you will know that you are in love with her. If not, then its just bullshit and sooner or later you will split”
“Failure of Darwin’s theory huh?” My friend said, “You spoke to Darwin about it yet?”
“Hell no” I laughed, “People have been calling the poor chap as anti-Christ for centuries anyway. Let him be in peace”
