First, I would like to ask you what is love or can you define love? I know you’ll be stuck in here. You know what love is, but you cannot explain or define it. That’s the reality of “love”. All of us know, all of us feel love but we cannot explain it. Even all of the animals know what love is. So I like to say simply that love is a universal knowledge and it is the most beautiful reality in this world.
Some think love is just an ‘emotion’. I thoroughly say NO. It’s not just an emotion. It’s a combination of knowledge that creates the foundation of a human. I think that once we know, understand the ‘love’, we have grabbed the knowledge of the basic theory which this world depends on. It looks complicated, no? But it is not. If you simply think you’ll understand that sometimes even the innocent person who cannot read a single word know and feel the love than a well-educated person. To understand and feel love, doesn’t require having a brilliant mind. But you need to have a beautiful heart and a kind soul.
Sometimes you’ll feel that ‘love’ is very complicated. Of course, it’s complicated because it is consists of several factors. I’ll explain it simply. Just take a human being. It has consisted of many body parts. Those are interconnected with each other and it is necessary to have that interrelationship for the living. And also each part interdepend on other parts as well. Factors of the ‘love’ work in the same order. ‘Love’ is complicated because it interdepend on 7 different factors. If one factor is lost there is no existence of ‘Love’. Without further explanations let’s go through those factors.
#1 Care
As mentioned above, ‘Love’ is not just an emotion that merges people. Just think, when you love a person you do everything considering the happiness of your beloved one. When that person is happy then you will be happy. I personally think that if someone’s love is only limited to words, not to actions, it is not true love. I think when two people really love each other it will disappear the difference between their bodies and souls. When you love a person and if that love doesn’t make you care about your beloved one’s happiness, it cannot be true love. I think that is the reason why religions such as Christianity, Buddhism, and Islam say their followers to do charitable works and always do something to make poor people happy. In their visions, they say followers should make poor people happy if they truly love or respect their God or Lord Buddha.
#2 Sensual
This is a primary factor of ‘love’. This means to have true love each one’s body should have to be satisfied by the senses. I’ll explain it simply. Can you ever love a person who you have never seen or never imagined? I think your answer will be NO. Yes, that’s true. We cannot love a person we never saw before. Have a sense is more important to have a true relationship. But most people misunderstand the difference between ‘love’ and ‘lust’. Lust means seeking sexual satisfaction. But when consider love, sexual satisfaction is the least necessary factor to have in love. But sensuality is a necessary factor. Let’s take an example. When considering Sufism in Islam, it is a mythical method which they use to build up their love towards God. In simply they imagined their God as a male or a female according to them. It helps to develop a sensual and emotional relationship between them and God.
#3 Compassion
Aristotle once said, “Love compose a single soul existing in two bodies”. I think it may be the simplest definition of ‘Love’. When considering the definition of ‘Compassion’ it means ‘the deep awareness and sympathy about the other one’s sufferings. Just think about a mother. She sees her child is suffering from great pain. Can she bear it? Of course not. She will do anything to take away that pain from her child even she has to give her life. That is the real nature of love. So according to this factor those who really love to avoid making their beloved ones suffer.
#4 Sharing
‘Love’ is about sharing. It means not only the soul but also everything you can. Let’s take a family. Family is the most typical base unit of love. In a family, there is no ‘mine’ about many things. Everyone shares everything in a family. They share a house, furniture, belongings, etc. It is also the same when compared to the love between two people. If you cannot share your valuable things with your beloved one, you don’t love that person truly.
#5 Trust
I personally think this is the most important factor in the existence of true love. How can you love a person you distrust? Can you share your soul with such a person? If you love you have to put your trust in your beloved one completely. I think ‘trust is the test’ in love. Love cannot endure without love. It is very easy to say you love somebody. But is it easy to say that you completely trust that person? Just think about yourself.
#6 Reverence
Some people may be rich than others. Some may more be educated than others. But eternally all of them have the same soul. So I think everyone should respect others whether he is younger, poor or uneducated. If you truly love your beloved ones always try to see good qualities in them and respect them. How can you expect other’s respect if you don’t respect them? Just think from your beloved ones’ perspective and ask yourself, ‘Can I truly love a person who doesn’t respect me?’
#7 Friendship
People rely on their friends in the hour of need. It is the same with the beloved ones. Friendship is a necessary factor which includes in ‘love’. When thinking about a mother, if she truly loves her child, she also becomes that child’s best friend. They play together and help each other. It is the same with love between two people. True lovers help each other in their needs. So I think friendship is present always between people who love.
