Love/Lust

Love and Lust have been one of those topics that people love debating. What is Love? What is Lust? To some they are the same. To others, they are different. I'm here to discuss what I think the difference is.

With Lust, there's many different factors such as time and behavior. Lust for me is a catalyst to love but it lacks certain mastery, mutuality and respect. I mean, when you first meet someone, you like them especially for how they look. That's natural because it is basic in stimuli. Life is response. You get an erection or you have some type of reaction. Our problem begins when our response neglects considering the totality of another's being.

We simply get lost in our dreams of a person rather than seeing them for who they really are. We only live in the response, which lacks discipline and moderation. You can dream as long as you want to in your head. There's no one stopping you, other than your obligations. In your mind, your thoughts are allowed to be wild and run free. This is where the danger lies because without self control and mastery, one can be blinded by their own illusions and act in behaviors that reason off their ideals alone. Therefore making mutuality and respect unreachable.

Of course, there are instances where people are able to move past just their natural response and actually get to know someone. Sharing feelings and reactions with others is also natural to us as creating harmony and belonging is needed for survival. Yet, this can also just be used to further our own desired behaviors which is how we fall short of complete love.

Love sees a person for all that they are. There is responsibility in response because respect requires one to behave based off truth and not ignorance. I mean, when you fall in love with someone, you're able to see beyond your own physical urges and self-driven ego. There is knowledge of the other person: their beliefs, their identities and pleasures. We must consider their satisfaction and well-being in our (re)actions. This makes love inclusive because you are actively challenging your thinking, and doing, in concern to authenticity and to collective passion.

With lust alone, there is no time for careful thought of another beyond the physical because everything is based in response. When we fall into the traps of our own illusions, dragging our ideas of others into our dreams and behaving as if they are true, we create no space for a meaningful relationship. We create instead a toxic relationship, one that allows our meaning and words to be meaningless in pursuit of getting what we want. Our innate fears control us rather than our compassion. We use our power to connect to deceive or manipulate for specific selfish motivations. There is no respect and admiration is simply reduced to fantasy where standards of beauty are idolized and objectified. Lust will always want more.

Love, however, will always see you for who you truly are, and in response, will let you be exactly that. Nothing more, nothing less. The whole you is enough.