LJ Idol Season 10 Topic 5: Fear is the heart of love
False.
Certainly, fear can result from love. In fact fear must result from love, for part of what it means to love someone is knowing what life was like without them; and the thought of a return to such a life is indeed likely to induce fear. In fact, love can often be said to be at the heart of fear: fear of loss (of someone/something you love), fear of death (love of life), and fear of humiliation (love of self).
But fear cannot be the heart of love.
Fear can even play a part in planting the seeds of love - it can lead us to reach out and touch another soul (tragedy), or it can lead us to open ourselves up, to expose ourselves to another (fear of being alone). But these things aren't love. Love can develop from them, sure, but they're not enough.
But fear cannot be the heart of love.
True love is pure. True love is elemental. True love can’t be broken down into constituent parts: it's already the most fundamental particle of human emotion. To ask “what’s at the heart of love?”, or “what causes love?” is to ask a senseless question: one might as well ask why time progresses.
So we reach the brutal truth: if what you think of as your love for someone is truly based on fear, then it’s merely a hollow imposter.
Certainly, fear can result from love. In fact fear must result from love, for part of what it means to love someone is knowing what life was like without them; and the thought of a return to such a life is indeed likely to induce fear. In fact, love can often be said to be at the heart of fear: fear of loss (of someone/something you love), fear of death (love of life), and fear of humiliation (love of self).
But fear cannot be the heart of love.
Fear can even play a part in planting the seeds of love - it can lead us to reach out and touch another soul (tragedy), or it can lead us to open ourselves up, to expose ourselves to another (fear of being alone). But these things aren't love. Love can develop from them, sure, but they're not enough.
But fear cannot be the heart of love.
True love is pure. True love is elemental. True love can’t be broken down into constituent parts: it's already the most fundamental particle of human emotion. To ask “what’s at the heart of love?”, or “what causes love?” is to ask a senseless question: one might as well ask why time progresses.
So we reach the brutal truth: if what you think of as your love for someone is truly based on fear, then it’s merely a hollow imposter.