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Really great piece! I’ve always believed love to be a principle and this piece illustrates it in a beautiful and practical manner. I liked how you outlined the fact that we often confuse sexual tensions with love.. really something to think about… Thank you

‘But the new rebel is a skeptic, and will not entirely trust anything. He has no loyalty; therefore he can never be really a revolutionist. And the fact that he doubts everything really gets in his way when he wants to denounce anything. For all denunciation implies a moral doctrine of some kind; and the modern revolutionist doubts not only the institution he denounces, but the doctrine by which he denounces it.

Thus he writes one book complaining that imperial oppression insults the purity of women, and then he writes another book in which he insults it himself. He curses the Sultan because Christian girls lose their virginity, and then curses Mrs. Grundy because they keep it. As a politician, he will cry out that war is a waste of life, and then, as a philosopher, that all life is waste of time.

A Russian pessimist will denounce a policeman for killing a peasant, and then prove by the highest philosophical principles that the peasant ought to have killed himself. A man denounces marriage as a lie, and then denounces aristocratic profligates for treating it as a lie. He calls a flag a bauble, and then blames the oppressors of Poland or Ireland because they take away that bauble. The man of this school goes first to a political meeting, where he complains that savages are treated as if they were beasts; then he takes his hat and umbrella and goes on to a scientific meeting, where he proves that they practically are beasts.

In short, the modern revolutionist, being an infinite skeptic, is always engaged in undermining his own mines. In his book on politics he attacks men for trampling on morality; in his book on ethics he attacks morality for trampling on men. Therefore the modern man in revolt has become practically useless for all purposes of revolt. By rebelling against everything he has lost his right to rebel against anything.’

(G.K. Chesterton, Orthodoxy, 1909)

“Love fades out” and others say “love dies out”.
Other couples decide to move on, and other couples decide to look at the same situation as a stage that makes love stronger.

The couples that decide it’s a stage is wiser based on the fact that they look at love at a principle which helps them not to make hasty decisions based on emotions.

Relevant topic. Thank you.

“Except for the decision to follow Christ, there is no decision that affects the total lifetime of a person, more than the decision of life companionship…” this i was told by a retired marriage counselor. He also shared an illustration that shares another dynamic to Love, that marriage or (relationships) are like a car. There are two things that a car needs to get the couple where they are going. One is power to Go and the other is power to Stop. Do we need both? Well yes, of what use is a car that will go without anything that could stop it? Who would want to ride in that kind of car? Nobody. On the other extreme is a car with only brakes,it cannot take you anywhere and rendering it without use… A successful drive requires a couple to always be balancing those two powers ,the power to go and the power to slow down or stop. This is love and self-control, two sides of the same coin.

‘Love means never HAVING to say sorry’… I had to read it , reread it and then break it up to truly understand it. Very meaningful statement with a connotation so strong.

I never understood why they said love conquers everything. From the article, one gets a sense of assurance why, it’s not the feeling that conquers, but the principle. The principle that knows the definition of effort and discipline.

What is love without a giving of oneself in sacrifice to commitment. Indeed a powerful read.

This is thought provoking. We need to focus our dialogues on this truth.
Love is what is left after the passion and fireworks have died. It’s not to say it’s boring but more resilient.
Thank you for making me think.

I fully agree. Love is a choice more than a feeling. Even when you don’t feel “like it” , you can still chose to love and do it well. We often think love is depended on feelings however , I believe love can also exist when the human heart fails to love.

Thoughtfully written