Love is a simple phrase that has existed throughout human history. Since the beginning of time, we have been taught to love one another through works of kindness and compassion. Despite this, we as a greedy, shallow culture tend to resort to conflict to solve our issues. From wars to segregation, humans have fought numerous battles in the name of a better world, yet, all they have accomplished is insurmountable conflict. Although this epidemic floods our history, there are times where the tenderness of people has broken through and achieved substantial gains for the world populous. To name a few: Jesus was crucified as a perfect, loving lamb in order to cleanse the grime of sin, Martin Luther King Jr. was praised for rooting his arguments in…
Another aspect I do not agree with in this paper is the many references to Sigmund Freud’s studies. Sigmund Freud, although influential to many concepts, is no longer a credible source for a scholarly paper because of the many inaccuracies in his works. I recommend including the concepts of other theorists and researchers to add to his claims to further support the thesis. There are many recent sources and concepts to include along with the well-known ideas of Sigmund Freud.…
The collection of texts presented in this essay depicts an underlying theme of love. The texts have been examined and explored in order to note the similarities or differences in various categories. To compare two texts by the length of their stanza would be to diminish the value of its words; indeed a comparison of texts must come from the connotation.…
Stephanie Coontz’s essay on “The Radical Idea of Marrying for Love” shows her opinion that the expectations of marriage are unrealistic based on different societies around the world in different time periods. For example in George Bernard Shaw’s theory, he believed that married was “an institution that brings together two people under the influence of the most violent, most insane, most delusive and most transient of passions” (qtd. I’m Coontz 378). In our history all of the world marriage has been said to be a tool of survival. Emotional love played a small part in marriage and was even sometimes discouraged. Even in today’s world love is still no seen as a necessity of marriage.…
Central Idea: Much of our problem in the modern world is a problem of love in all its aspects - Eros, Libido, Agape, Philia.…
Society expects people to fall in love. That is, society expects people to find a life partner, get married, and have children. Those who do not follow the pattern are generally seen as hermits who sit in their houses with multiple forms of pets to keep them company. This burden life throws at human beings growing up, turns into a moral value. People want to find someone that makes them so happy that their heart hurts when they’re not with them. This would be the case if one does actually fall in love. Love can be a wonderful thing. However, sometimes it can be a devastatingly evil form of torture. Even though it is expected to make one feel content and comforted, love can make anyone feel more alone than ever before. Love is presumed to be a step in life. The expectation society applies to it leads to alienation of characters in the summer reading of The Great Gatsby, Their Eyes Were Watching God, and The Grapes of Wrath.…
In society today, envy and anger run rampant among people. Those with envy and anger show their hatred toward the world in many ways, including mass shootings and harming others both physically and mentally. Taking the lives of innocent people has become commonplace. In Matthew 22:37-39 Jesus describes the greatest commandment by stating, “ ‘You shall love the Lord your God with all your heart, with all your soul, and with all your mind.’ This is the first and great commandment. And the second is like it: ‘You shall love your neighbor as yourself.” If one cannot love oneself, one will never be able to love their…
In recent discussions of love and hate, a controversial issue has been presented: can true love conquer all adversity? On one hand, some argue that love has its limitation. From this perspective, many will claim that familial love cannot conquer a violent home with a violent father. On the other hand, however, others argue that love can conquer any obstacle that appears in a relationship, whether material or natural. In the words of one of this view’s main proponents, “Come live with me and be my love, and we will all the pleasures prove that valleys, groves, hills, and fields, woods, or steepy mountain yields (Marlowe 777).” According to this view, love is enough to move mountains. In sum, this issue is whether love can conquer all adversity or if love has its limitations that cannot be overcome.…
It is almost daunting to start such a journey. I have had such a tremendous adventure with the topic of this paper, which continues to unfold and expand. I do believe that it will continue to unfold as I write it. Freud is proving to be one of those authors where at the surface his work presents itself in bold letters, leaving me the feeling that I can get what he is saying by reading the titles. Yet the deeper I go the deeper Freud goes. He has writing in-between the lines and then in-between those lines making it very difficult to ingest in a sitting. I will come up with a theory and then in re-reading, to find evidence for my theory, I find that his theory is actually the same as mine. At first I find myself upset because I am looking for something to prove my point yet this turns to a huge admiration for the personal work that Freud did himself to deliver such thought provoking ideas and material, not to mention this is not about proving a point. I started with the intention of comparing the differences in my understanding what life is all about in contrast with Freud’s. This sounds like, and is a massive undertaking, but Freud has really spent his entire adult life writing about what experience is for himself and his patients. I also have spent a good portion of my life trying to make sense of it in an intellectual way, which I have recently found a bit restrictive. I get the feeling that Freud renounced religion based on the freedom that it provided in staying “still.” I feel that anti-Semitism definitely played a role in his renunciation but I feel Freud retained a deeper sense of Spirituality than that of most religions.…
“Love” has been experienced, examined, converted for entertainment, manipulated, shaken, and stirred innumerable times through the ages, as humanity attempts to reign in the profound concept. Mankind was created to participate in a love affair with the Creator, and even those who don’t believe in Him still feel desire for the love only He can provide. With regards to Christianity, the fact that “God so loved the world” seems to be ingrained in the church, but His love can nonetheless feel intangible and semi-present. Therefore, when God’s love feels distant–or is not believed in, people try to fill this ache through other means, namely each other. What is then found is an idealized love--created by people--which mimics the love of God but focuses on the satisfaction of the individual. Shakespeare’s “Sonnet 116” represents this secular vision of ideal love, but as Benedict XVI reveals in “God is Love,” it is ultimately only a shadowy, reflected image of God’s passion that cannot be fully manifested amongst sinful people.…
Sigmund Freud discusses three sources of human suffering in Civilization and discontents which were the human body, the world, and social relations. The human body causes suffering because it is feeble and weak. Because humans are mortal, it leaves us susceptible to pain. Freud explains how the world is a source of suffering because of the superiority of nature and its natural catastrophes. Freud goes on to discuss how nature is a necessity for human life and our inability to control nature causes suffering. Lastly, Freud blames social relations because society, social legislation and other human beings limit the satisfaction of one’s pleasure. It seems that humans can only avoid suffering due to social relations. However Freud argues that even this cause of suffering is unavoidable because a piece of nature lies behind social conflict. Therefore mankind cannot avoid suffering.…
In the final scene when Louis Levy speaks of the capacity of love I feel he is saying that we as humans have this natural need for an emotional attachment in order to feel complete as a person. Everyone on this earth is looking for love and acceptance and this starts from birth. A baby requires love, attention, physical touch and maternal nurturing along with biological needs in order to survive. This is carried on throughout out a person’s life. If one can look back as far as possible into their childhood they will come to find that love from another being is essential to growth because this will be the basis of what kind of adult you will grow up to be, you seek acceptance from anyone, be it your mother, father, siblings or friends and even a pet, and to be important and needed and loved is vital for a person to have a sense of self-worth. If there is anything lacking in these personal requirements, then a person will most likely grow up insecure about oneself and question what their purpose in life is if they cannot have ever lasting love.…
Man wants happiness, basically. There’s 2 ways to go about it: the absence of pain, or pleasure. However, it seems that man’s plan to be happy has “not been included in the plan of ‘Creation’”. Happiness comes from the satisfaction of needs, but humans are made in a way that we can only derive intense enjoyment from things being contrasted and not from the state of things. For example, if you take a test, and you get a C, you are sad. If the next time you take a test you get an A, you are happy. This is a contrast. If you were to get A’s all the time, it wouldn’t make a difference to you, and so it wouldn’t produce happiness. Thus, “our possibilities of happiness are already restricted by our constitution”. Freud basically states that when any situation that is desired by the pleasure principle is prolonged, and then it creates a feeling of mild contentment in our lives. Therefore, possibilities of happiness is restricted by the law. Many of humankind's primitive instincts (for example, the desire to kill and the craving for sexual gratification) are clearly harmful to the well being of a human community. As a result, civilization creates laws that prohibit killing, rape, and adultery, and it implements severe punishments if its rules are broken. This process, Freud argues, is an inherent quality of civilization that instills perpetual feelings of discontent in its citizens.…
Because of this empathy, people inherently are and understand both the victim and the perpetrator. Thus, as a collective group, all people must uphold the responsibility of a citizen. They must defend their own citizenship as well as that of others, therefore creating an authentic love among humanity that can empower individuals to break down personal barriers, to welcome others, and to have selfless sacrifice for the community. Love allows mankind to uncover the truth and shines a light on mankind even in the midst of calamity, ultimately embodying the hope that makes life worth the struggle.…
Love—in all of its forms—is the most powerful force that binds all people together. However, without love, even the largest group of people could be left shattered and be confined under curse…