What is love?
What a silly question! We all know what love is.
But do we really? We are living at a time when love seems to be absent. Love is far from being the motivating influence in the world.
It has has been pushed into the background and world events attest to its absence.
Even movies and games are mostly about violence these days because they reflect the society that we live in.
Is it any wonder that romantic love has taken a back seat? “What is love” becomes a very relevant question indeed.
Shakespeare penned the following words about romantic love more that 4 centuries ago:
“Love is not love which alters when it alteration finds
Or bends with the remover to remove
O no it is an ever fixed mark
A guide to every wandering bark”
These lines from Shakespeare’s famous 21st sonnet is the most beautiful love poem I have ever read. And do you know why these particular lines have the power to move me ?
Because of Shakespeare’s intuitive understanding of the real meaning of true love right there in the very first line:
“Love is not love which alters when it alteration finds.”
We all change over time. Life changes us. Problems change us. We begin to lose the beauty of our youth. But true love endures through sickness and in health as stated in the marriage vows.
It endures through youth and old age; and it can remain constant even through disfigurement. It endures no matter what changes the loved one undergoes.
How many times haven’t you seen elderly couples, ungainly people or really unattractive couples walking down the street hand-in-hand?
This is what Shakespeare was writing about. Love goes far beyond appearances.
And then he adds: “love is not love that bends with the remover to remove.”
It’s Shakespeare’s way of saying that true love will not allow anyone or anything to interfere with or break up the relationship. No matter what obstacles may arise to derail it, true love will endure.
No jealous girlfriend will be able to tempt your man away from you. No jealous slander will poison his mind against you. True love will ignore all attempts to ruin your relationship.
I could go on and on but I think you get the idea.
The bottom line is: do you want any less for yourself? You don’t have to set your goals any lower than this.
So with that in mind let’s turn the lens to your own relationship so that we can take a look at the kind of love that you want and deserve.
An excerpt taken from “Finding Mr Right”
To read more about the book go to Finding Mr Right