I am working on a short story. A rewrite of a story that I wrote a year ago. It is about a young woman who loves an older woman and is willing to work through the night so that her friend won’t have to. She wants to escape her situation and a demon is conjured and her love for her friend is what allows her to avoid the potentially lethal consequences of the interaction with the demon. So this has had me thinking on the nature of love for the last couple days.
In pursuing further thoughts on love, I listened to a TED talk by Helen Fisher that was about love. She proposed three types of love– lust, romantic love, and attachment. But this was between two intimate sexual partners. She did not address love that arises out of friendship. What would this love be characterized as? Initially camaraderie or a type of more involved empathy? Friendly support? Later, caring and attachment?
The most intense love imaginable can be that of a mother for a child. This is not lust, but the attachment is there and very powerful.
A friend also sent along a link for a TED talk by Isabelle Allende. It can be found at: http://www.ted.com/talks/isabel_allende_tells_tales_of_passion.html. I listened to the Isabel Allende TED talk and was deeply moved by it. Please go and watch it.
She does not talk about love as love per se, but there is love. Passion. The passion she talks about is one of living with a fearless heart and engaging one’s deepest beliefs and making a difference where one can. This was a FABULOUS TED talk. Very inspirational.
She does not talk about love as in love between two people, but rather love as in expressing one’s values through courageous action and in doing so showing the love in one’s heart. She talks about love and passion as making the world better through expressing and acting on one’s own passion.
I am still thinking on love and the way love adds to the world. Perhaps, love is something that expects nothing in return, implies no obligation, and is freely given. Fleeting because it is mercurial and slippery as water.
Passion moves the world and makes change.