Is Love Real?

I'm sure many of us ponder over this question, is love real? What is love? Why does this emotion play such huge role in our lives? Is love attachment? Yes, it is. When we love something, or someone we're used to having it in great quantities.

Mmm... Caramel Mac

Take for example, coffee. Being an ex coffee addict myself, it was hard to fall 'out of love' with it, but I got there in the end. It was there for me every morning, to brighten my day. It was there for me in times of need, where I managed to get barely any hours of sleep, it was there to give me that great energy boost to carry out many of my tasks. It has that special coffee smell. That taste (strong and sweet - ohh yeahh!) That unique flavour, be it Nescafé Gold blend or a Starbucks Caramel Macchiatto, whenever I wanted it, it was there for me to make and enjoy. It was an addiction. I was attached to that strong overpowering odour. I was so acquired to it's taste, I wasn't willing to settle for anything else - tea was just not the same. If it was always around me, what stopped me from drinking it?



What i'm trying to get at is, that's what love is. I've come to realise that we're all in love with the idea of love itself. What we don't actually recognise is that we like the idea of having something that perks up our lives. We like smelling that same fragrance. We like having that one special flavour everyday, thus gradually beginning to develop an attachment to it: which once formed, without it, we cannot survive.

When we remove these bonds, we feel somewhat lost, our routine is broken. My cup of coffee to keep me functioning during the day isn't there anymore, how do I walk or talk? It's not there to give me energy.

What really got me thinking about this was, Orsino, a character in William Shakespeare's Twelfth Night who is a great example of this.

"If music be the food of love, play on, give me excess of it
That surfeiting the appetite may sicken and so die."

Orsino is madly in love with Olivia. But judging by what he says, we start to see that he love's love. He fancies it in such great capacities to fullfil his fresh appetite, so much so, that he is willing to soon be sick of it, just because he enjoys the way it feels. He likes how it completes his emptiness. Orsino believes that he holds these sentiments towards Olivia, but ironically at the end of the play he happily accepts Viola as his wife. He doesn't mind, he's been in her company before, he knows how much she desires him, so why not?

I know this seems like a duhhh we all know love-is-an-addiction moment. But it really makes me think that is love falliable and false? 


"Love is the most beautiful of dreams and the worst of nightmares." - A bit more Shakespeare for you.