Life of Pride
Monday, July 25, 2005
Nothing's really happened the last several days - nor, for that matter, did I expect it to. Summer is settling into a routine. Work, Bible reading, other reading, evening activities. Not much writing. It almost doesn't seem worthwhile posting to my blog, because all the thoughts running through my head are either recycled or too personal to share.
I know what would be an interesting topic: Love! I've been marveling over its existence quite a lot this summer, so I'm amazed it hasn't come up before now. As I watch the people around me, I wonder at this strange force that causes a man and a woman to look at each other and decide they want to spend their lives together. What makes any individual man need a woman, and vice versa? Why are we given such a lonely feeling that only a few people can overcome it to remain single? For a woman, it is having someone to tell your private thoughts, someone who will keep them just as safe as you do. For a man, it is having someone to tell you that you are all right, not a failure; that she loves you no matter what. It is an extra pair of hands in everything you do; it is an introduction to many things you would never have imagined yourself doing before. It is so much more than I can ever describe, because I know very little about it firsthand. :D That is probably why it fascinates me.
I know what would be an interesting topic: Love! I've been marveling over its existence quite a lot this summer, so I'm amazed it hasn't come up before now. As I watch the people around me, I wonder at this strange force that causes a man and a woman to look at each other and decide they want to spend their lives together. What makes any individual man need a woman, and vice versa? Why are we given such a lonely feeling that only a few people can overcome it to remain single? For a woman, it is having someone to tell your private thoughts, someone who will keep them just as safe as you do. For a man, it is having someone to tell you that you are all right, not a failure; that she loves you no matter what. It is an extra pair of hands in everything you do; it is an introduction to many things you would never have imagined yourself doing before. It is so much more than I can ever describe, because I know very little about it firsthand. :D That is probably why it fascinates me.
Comments:
Of course love is not the cause of loneliness. It is the answer to it. All love is from God, and that is why it is so mysterious to us creatures who are used to caring for our own selves.
I have to disagree with your first paragraph. Society is not all artificial things imposed on individuals. Individuals make society the way it is because it makes sense to them. Some things are universal, and the difference between man and woman is one of them. Men and women have different roles in a relationship, and therefore they would have to come at love from disparate angles. Similar, perhaps, but different.
I have to disagree with your first paragraph. Society is not all artificial things imposed on individuals. Individuals make society the way it is because it makes sense to them. Some things are universal, and the difference between man and woman is one of them. Men and women have different roles in a relationship, and therefore they would have to come at love from disparate angles. Similar, perhaps, but different.
There is a distinction in love -- not quite sure that I agree with the distinction you made, though. Beneath the distinction there are many, many similarities...
I am learning (ever so slowly) this summer to delight in the love God... it's amazing to think that marriage and any kind of human love is created to reflect His love for us, like a pale image in contrast with reality -- wonderful, yes, but we already know the most wonderful love.
And for singles, I believe there can be great personal fulfillment found in the love between members of the Church. Singleness does not have to equal loneliness -- I think someone who knows God and enjoys quality friendships with His people will be less lonely than a married person whose only idea of love comes from romance.
I am learning (ever so slowly) this summer to delight in the love God... it's amazing to think that marriage and any kind of human love is created to reflect His love for us, like a pale image in contrast with reality -- wonderful, yes, but we already know the most wonderful love.
And for singles, I believe there can be great personal fulfillment found in the love between members of the Church. Singleness does not have to equal loneliness -- I think someone who knows God and enjoys quality friendships with His people will be less lonely than a married person whose only idea of love comes from romance.
I think you're right. I don't have the words to say it properly, so I'm almost certain I did get the distinction wrong. And I agree with the singleness thing too. I didn't mean that only romantic love came from God. All love does, of course. :)
Wes, you and others who espouse similar theories of psychological influences of society on individuals go too far, I think, in assuming the infinite malleability of human minds. This is the whole nature vs. nurture question. Let me ask you this: Who is imposing their will on our culture? How would you find a person outside of a culture to determine what was "natural" and what was "imposed?" We live in culture. We are culture; it is part of who we are.
As a man, you know about men. I have four brothers, and I've always had friends who were guys. Trust me; men and women think differently about love, and about most things in fact. Body and mind are inextricably linked, so you cannot separate physical differences from the psychological. Give both little boys and girls trucks and dolls, and the boys will play with the trucks, the girls with the dolls.
It is true that the general concept of love is the same no matter what - love your neighbor as yourself, do unto others as you would they would do unto you. This works out differently from person to person, however. It is only over the last two years or so that I've learned that very many people do indeed think in different ways than I do, even if they have arrived at the same conclusions. And if you think, Wes, that the same things will make a girl happy as make you happy, you are in for a big surprise. :)
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As a man, you know about men. I have four brothers, and I've always had friends who were guys. Trust me; men and women think differently about love, and about most things in fact. Body and mind are inextricably linked, so you cannot separate physical differences from the psychological. Give both little boys and girls trucks and dolls, and the boys will play with the trucks, the girls with the dolls.
It is true that the general concept of love is the same no matter what - love your neighbor as yourself, do unto others as you would they would do unto you. This works out differently from person to person, however. It is only over the last two years or so that I've learned that very many people do indeed think in different ways than I do, even if they have arrived at the same conclusions. And if you think, Wes, that the same things will make a girl happy as make you happy, you are in for a big surprise. :)
