Love at First Sight
What is love? According to the dictionary, love is "an intense feeling of deep affection". Some of us may have been in love or are in love. Maybe there are some who have never experienced love but we know people who are or have been in love. Love is something that comes naturally. It can't or shouldn't be forced. So what about love at first sight- is it actually possible to see a stranger and know right away that you love them? Is it real? Absolutely. Not?
Love at first sight sounds too good to be true, so is it? What a lot of people think is "love" at first sight, is often mistaken for lust. Lust is defined in the dictionary as "a very strong sexual desire". Lust being caused by the physical attraction between the two. This is something that I understand because of course you can be attracted to someone right away. Although attraction at first sight is real, love shouldn't be developed by sight. Another thing I understand is having chemistry between someone within minutes of meeting them. But knowing as soon as you look at someone for the first time? Seems like a stretch. Love is something that grows over time. Niloo Dardashti, a psychologist and relationship expert says this about the topic, "With love, we're talking about things like intimacy, tolerating someone's flaws, seeing them as a whole person and still liking them, and so on. Thats a lot of stuff that generally doesn't happen in the first moment you look at someone". Love is something that should be deep-rooted and it takes time.
On the other hand, maybe I don't believe because its never happened to me. Maybe its just my lack of experience. As far as testimonies go, there are plenty of people who claim to have had a love at first sight experience. People that claim they didn't choose to fall in love, that it just happened and they knew. The thing about love, is that you cannot control it. You cannot make yourself love someone or stop loving someone. You don't know how or why. If seeing someone for the first time ever gives you a deep gut feeling, how can you explain that? You can't, because love just happens. If you felt a love at first sight encounter, would you embrace it or justify why its not real?
In conclusion, I do not yet know if love at first sight is real. The hopeless romantic in me still believes that maybe one day I'll glance up and just know the one I'm looking at is really THE one. On the other hand, I can also agree that love at first sight isn't real. Love grows over time and in order for the love to be there and grow effort has to be put into the relationship.
On the other hand, maybe I don't believe because its never happened to me. Maybe its just my lack of experience. As far as testimonies go, there are plenty of people who claim to have had a love at first sight experience. People that claim they didn't choose to fall in love, that it just happened and they knew. The thing about love, is that you cannot control it. You cannot make yourself love someone or stop loving someone. You don't know how or why. If seeing someone for the first time ever gives you a deep gut feeling, how can you explain that? You can't, because love just happens. If you felt a love at first sight encounter, would you embrace it or justify why its not real?
In conclusion, I do not yet know if love at first sight is real. The hopeless romantic in me still believes that maybe one day I'll glance up and just know the one I'm looking at is really THE one. On the other hand, I can also agree that love at first sight isn't real. Love grows over time and in order for the love to be there and grow effort has to be put into the relationship.
Discussion questions
1. Do you believe in love at first sight? why? why not?
2. Have you experienced love at first sight? Explain.
3. Do you believe in love? why? why not?
3. Do you believe in love? why? why not?
Infatuation at first sight is definitely real. True love takes a little more time to process. On the other hand, Platonic true love, the kind that transcends space and time (and not to be confused with the colloquially "platonic" love that just means close but non-erotic friendship), may be entirely unreal. And yet, for Platonists, it's an Idea(l) larger than life. IMHO, the sort of love worth believing in attaches to humans and not to transcendent Forms. And, I'm with the spirit if not the letter of the Beatles' view: "All you need is love..."
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