The Power of Love

It as been along time since I felt the tingle of the power of the connection between two individuals. Taken for granted by teenagers for whom it appears in every other conversation, this strange, elusive, and often incongruous buzz of hormones and electricity is responsible for more heart ache, trouble and despair than just about any other human emotion -bar perhaps hate. This is most probably why our society, many individuals and most institutions that concern themselves with such things expend almost as much energy trying to eradicate any emanations of this strange and electrifying force as the media, theatre and literature spends to promote it.

The reason, I suspect, that I have not felt the buzz for a while, is not so much due to a natural progression from post-teenager mating frenzy to mature adulthood, but more to do with life-style. The simple fact remains that by acting on this feeling the stable well rounded relationships and the two parent -own home -car and steady job world of the institution can be thrown into the most shockingly delicious disarray. For this reason the emotion -and probably the thoughts that it engenders, have no clear (or complementary) name, and more pointedly are given no place to rest in their world. It is not lust, for that is capable of being one-sided. Nor is it temptation, a terribly twee term that evokes little red devils and pointy horns. It is however instantly recognisable and is a force that can act in a single glance and at a distance. Heart lurching, exquisitely poignant, it speaks to both of you about pleasure, about friendship and about the beginnings of love. Even if the two parties take no action it is a high that can stay with you for the rest of the day -turning even cities into places of beauty and places of beauty in paradise.

The problem faced by humans is that this feeling, unlike the churches or polite society and the nuclear family, is a natural, desirable and indispensable part of living. To loose it is to sink into a saggy sloe of routine and humdrum; a state that not even the excitement of wide screen surround sound, nor a trip to that temple of consumer ideals, Ikea, can alleviate. The worst news is yet to arrive for those who assume that domestic bliss means domesticity -for in loosing the buzz we can easily loose our zest for love and, paradoxically, our desirability factor (in the eyes of our significant other) is drastically reduced. The crass concept that woman are attracted to rough shaven pirates, leather clad bikers with a penchant for self distraction or adventurous archaeologists wielding leather whips, is not necessarily totally false, nor is it based on an untruth -something long accepted by the movie world.

It seems that the essence of life, the illusion of youth and the beatific joy of existence are all to closely wrapped up with a small spark of energy that can cross the void of eternity that separates two souls. Perhaps we would do well to realise that our world and the rules and taboos that form its structure represent the parts of our lives that cause us to die a little with every day and then, perhaps, we would not blame the spark of life for highlighting this state of affairs -then, at the very least, we would not feel guilty for feeling it.