Merry Meet, Dear Seeker,
Athena believes that the purest kind of love is love of the mind. As a follower of Athena, I believe that her wisdom has much to teach us. Allow me to dive into what "Love of the mind" truly means.
Making someone into your whole world is just as unhealthy of a relationship as being in an abusive relationship. When you make someone into your whole world, you throw away yourself respect. Yes, you love them, but they are not your world. You are just as important as they are. When you are in a relationship, you both are equals. Love is a partnership. There needs to be a balance and a respect to it. Respect of oneself and of the other. If neither of these are met, then the relationship is doomed for failure. You will need to compromise on things and work through tough times. If there is no respect for oneself or the other, then the compromises you will need to make will fail and you will not be in a truly loving relationship.
Love isn't mushy-gushy, like how the movies paint it out to be. It's way deeper and more complicated than that. Yes, there is romance to it, but its not what one normally thinks its going to be. For some people, overly romantic situations, like a romantic dinner, can be a turnoff. It can even scare some people away from you because they will feel the need to return that level of romantic -ship, and that may not be how they express love. Camping under the stars and looking for shooting stars can be a better date than eating at a fancy restaurant. A hug can mean a lot more love than a kiss. Yes, those other things are nice and can be romantic, but they aren't everyone's idea of romance or deep love.
In fact, love has a maturity level. Different people have different levels of maturity when it comes to love. For those you think movie romance is how love should be, they have a younger, or even child-like, level of love. They don't know how love should be and turn to movies to tell them how they should act when in a relationship. However, romantic love and deep love are two different things. Deep love is often referred to as True love. True Love isn't like a fairy tale. It's not some knight sweeping a princess off her feet; true love is trying to be there for each other and putting up with each other's flaws. Its the willingness to accept every part of someone, positive or negative, and still be happy with the person. Someone with a higher, or older, love maturity will view love as not being romantic all the time, maybe once in awhile, but will view it as the ability to endure the worst of the worst with each other and still maintain the same level of respect for each other and oneself.
It is the willingness to avoid doing something and not complaining about it. For example, if your loved one is allergic to a food and you eat that food, then you won't try to kiss them with your tongue or complain that you can't kiss them with your tongue. You would accept and understand that they are allergic to the food you just ate. As Christians say "Through sickness and through health," you will be there for them. (However, that is about the only traditional Christian vow that applies to what true love is, but isn't a beautiful one?).
Merry part and blessed be, Dear Seeker. This will be continued in part two.
Athena believes that the purest kind of love is love of the mind. As a follower of Athena, I believe that her wisdom has much to teach us. Allow me to dive into what "Love of the mind" truly means.
Making someone into your whole world is just as unhealthy of a relationship as being in an abusive relationship. When you make someone into your whole world, you throw away yourself respect. Yes, you love them, but they are not your world. You are just as important as they are. When you are in a relationship, you both are equals. Love is a partnership. There needs to be a balance and a respect to it. Respect of oneself and of the other. If neither of these are met, then the relationship is doomed for failure. You will need to compromise on things and work through tough times. If there is no respect for oneself or the other, then the compromises you will need to make will fail and you will not be in a truly loving relationship.
Love isn't mushy-gushy, like how the movies paint it out to be. It's way deeper and more complicated than that. Yes, there is romance to it, but its not what one normally thinks its going to be. For some people, overly romantic situations, like a romantic dinner, can be a turnoff. It can even scare some people away from you because they will feel the need to return that level of romantic -ship, and that may not be how they express love. Camping under the stars and looking for shooting stars can be a better date than eating at a fancy restaurant. A hug can mean a lot more love than a kiss. Yes, those other things are nice and can be romantic, but they aren't everyone's idea of romance or deep love.
In fact, love has a maturity level. Different people have different levels of maturity when it comes to love. For those you think movie romance is how love should be, they have a younger, or even child-like, level of love. They don't know how love should be and turn to movies to tell them how they should act when in a relationship. However, romantic love and deep love are two different things. Deep love is often referred to as True love. True Love isn't like a fairy tale. It's not some knight sweeping a princess off her feet; true love is trying to be there for each other and putting up with each other's flaws. Its the willingness to accept every part of someone, positive or negative, and still be happy with the person. Someone with a higher, or older, love maturity will view love as not being romantic all the time, maybe once in awhile, but will view it as the ability to endure the worst of the worst with each other and still maintain the same level of respect for each other and oneself.
It is the willingness to avoid doing something and not complaining about it. For example, if your loved one is allergic to a food and you eat that food, then you won't try to kiss them with your tongue or complain that you can't kiss them with your tongue. You would accept and understand that they are allergic to the food you just ate. As Christians say "Through sickness and through health," you will be there for them. (However, that is about the only traditional Christian vow that applies to what true love is, but isn't a beautiful one?).
Merry part and blessed be, Dear Seeker. This will be continued in part two.