If there were no love?

09/11/2024 Nilson Lattari

Can we imagine life without love? If this feeling had never existed and no one had ever imagined it? Would relationships between people be based solely on laws or ethics? Would our societies be organized by rules or behaviours? Would these laws be based in solidarity to protect the weak people from the strong, the poor from rich, and minorities from the majority?
Reality is a bit different even though our good intentions count.
And what about love? This feeling makes us desire someone and becomes the reason for our lives and passion. Additionally, this feeling embraces families and our neighbours. Without love, people might help others out of a sense of duty or humanity. Everything would become politically correct, a mere formality.
If there were no love, would there be a desire to understand others or at least to try to understand them, instead of just taking care of them? Without love, we would take care of others, then they would live their own lives. It would be a kind of sentimental liberalism. If we like someone, could we do whatever we want with them? Of course not, some people use love to control others, and this behaviour belongs to those who consider others as losers.
How would novels and literature be without love? Perhaps love is a utopia, an idea that doesn’t make sense. Maybe love only exists in our imagination because human beings need an escape into a spiritual world. Love might exist beyond our comprehension, but no one has proven it.
So, why does love exist?
Love is like a connection that keeps us grounded, a barrier that prevents us from becoming barbarians. Love sets limits to guide us away from evil. Even barbarians love – if they don’t love others they at least love themselves.
Don’t we have self-love? How would our relationships be without it? Don’t we have self-esteem and the joy of loving ourselves when we make sacrifices for our goals? Or do we fall in love only to have an affair and nothing more? Is love merely an enchantment between people, or a simple way to guarantee descendants?
If we love, what do we do with it?
Love is a signal within us preventing us from evil and often making us cry. For those who commit evil, love doesn’t exist – it is just a word in the dictionary or a way to deceive people.
If we feel emotion, it is because we feel something within us that makes us reflect. Love, in fact, is not propaganda. Love is a safe place we desire to feel and to give to others. Love keeps us alive on this planet. If there were no love we wouldn’t be talking about it.