Can a human being experience love without the impulse of lust? Lust here meaning the craving for sex. How does one know when they are in love and not just having a deceptive feeling of lust? Sex is a natural thing- it helps in keeping a species alive. Human beings are animals that need to reproduce as well. On the other hand, we are rational beings and experience sentiment and rationality. In order to know that difference between both, both must be defined. So the real question is....what is LOVE???? And how can you tell if someone is in love with you and not just lusting after you?
Quick question, does this mean I'm excused from writing a comment or blog since I'm the one who wrote this? lol Honestly this question has gone through my head many times. This also lead me to think that if there was no lust and all love people's sexuality wouldn't matter. If lust is out, that means sex isn't in mind and if sex isn't in mind that means there is no limit to who people will fall in love with, in which case people won't be considered either gay or straight anymore because there wouldn't be a dividing line.
ReplyDeleteAlso this:
ReplyDeletehttp://www.youtube.com/watch?v=6zlViU5PBPY
Very good question AND point, Javier.
ReplyDeleteI would agree that sex is essential to keeping our species going, but it is also important in a relationship. When you are truly in love and in a committed relationship, sex is a way that you and the person you love can be intimate in a way that you can't (or shouldn't) be with anyone else. However, I do not think that sex is the most important thing in a relationship or in being able to tell if you are truly in love. If you are only thinking about sex constantly, then it sounds like you are in lust and not love. I think when two people are truly in love, they could go without sex if they really wanted to. Just being in the presence, or having a conversation with the person you love should bring you pleasure.
I'm not exactly sure if I am even beginning to answer the question above, but this is just what comes to mind when I read it.
Love is a lot of things, but I'll try to sum it up the best I can. It is the feeling that your day isn't complete until you've kissed that person. It's laying around doing nothing and being completely happy just because you are around them. It is being able to disagree, get mad and be fine five minutes later. It is knowing what they are going to say before they even open their mouth. It is knowing how they're day was just by the look of them, but still asking because you care. It is doing things you may strongly dislike, but having a smile on your face because they love it. Prime example of that last one: It is buying her the first season of Grey's Anatomy when it first came out on DVD and spending an ENTIRE Saturday watching it, only leaving the room once to get lunch. Love is many things, but most importantly it is the feeling that life is worth a little less without that person.
ReplyDeleteAs far as lust, it is just an almost uncontrollable primal urge. It's not always a bad thing, but I think it probably contributes to our high divorce rates in more ways than one. Two people may get married thinking they're in love, but it turns out they are just physically attracted to one another. Sooner or later they realize they have nothing in common and can't stand each other emotionally. Love and lust can coexist, but neither is required for the other.
One final note, I found a really good pickup line that I thought I'd share.
(Sitting at a bar) "I must tell you, I'm not usually this tall. I'm just sitting on my wallet."
I always just thought of it as this.
ReplyDeleteLust is about you, love is about them.
I would also like to add that Javier beat me to the punch on the video.
Love is caring about someone to the point that you would self sacrifice. There are different levels of course. You can tell if someone genuinely loves you and is not just lusting after you if they make genuine sacrifices and put you first. This is never always true. I definitely think that love without lust can exist, You love your parents and siblings of course.
ReplyDeleteLove is a complicated thing. It is something that is meant to be worked on with another person. Lust on the other hand is easily obtained. I always seem to find out the difference between each other when I get tired of the other person and don't see myself with them in the future. When a person cares for you and thinks of you before themselves that is love. When you can just be with that person all day and not think of sex or anything else but just that one person that is more like love. Lust is just a physical connection and Love is more of a real connection with another person, liking all of the positives but also the negatives.
ReplyDeleteI personally think love is something completely different from lust. As you pointed out, lust in an impulse type of thing. It's the craving that, "you have to have." When you "lust" after something or someone, you have this "thirst" that has to be quenched, yet, once you quench it, you always want it again. It like when you sin, you sin because you want that gratification of something that you know is wrong, but you still want it anyway no matter the consequences.
ReplyDeleteSo this last comment was actually by Jeffery Pavlik, not Audrey...haha...i'm not sure what I did wrong, but I did post it.
ReplyDelete