Perhaps such a post as this should be written at a less cynical time in my life. Fear not though, for my dissertation is like a scary bedtime story. No matter what happens, it always ends happily ever after.

I was thinking in the shower about 10 minutes ago and my train of thought led me to love. I cynically remarked to myself that there is no such thing as true love. The more I thought about it I began to realize my own error. Among teenagers, true love is a rare thing, in fact, its practically nonexistent.

I know I'm rambling, but I will make my point. There are a couple of kinds of love and all of them must be examined to understand the point I'm making. Teenage love should be more appropriately called infatuation. Although not always the case, teenagers often mistake infatuation for a purer form of love. Infatuation is a physical love, with no roots in traits of personality, character, humor, etc. Infatuation is skin deep and both comes and goes as fleetingly as the wind.

The closest mortal approximation of true (or perfect) love is unconditional love. The best example of this is the love parents have for their children and the siblings love for another sibling. This kind of love is always present and based entirely in personality traits and not at all in looks. Unconditional love is loving someone for who they are, not how they look, dress, or act.

Now I'm nearing the realization I had in the shower. Unconditional love is not perfect love. Unconditional love can become perfect love, but it isn't always the case. Perfect love can only be felt in a state of Celestial glory. Because perfect love must be perfect, it must be eternal. The closest mortal approximation of perfect love is true love. Eternal marriage paves the highway for an eternity of perfect love between a family, but it is only a highway. It must be followed and each of us has the agency to choose that path or not.

My point is that perfect love is felt on earth. It is almost only found in marital relationships (especially the eternal variety) and between the members of a family. However, because of our mortal state, I believe a more appropriate name of perfect love is true love.

True love is like a seed. Just because its planted doesn't mean it will become a tree. Under proper conditions a seed can become a tree, living for hundreds of years (mortal eternity). Ok, that's as far as I got in the shower. A bit of a ramble, but still the good ending.

4 comments

1. Kristen on 7/16/2006 7:40 AM

   i remember a talk i heard at efy. the speaker told of an experience he had when his son was a baby. he was in church and was holding his son in his arms, looking down at him. he was overwhelmed with the love he felt for this little person and how he wanted to do everything in his power to love, protect, and nurture his little boy. and then the thought came to him that he was an imperfect man, with an imperfect love, loving an imperfect son. so he felt he could scarcely comprehend the feelings our Heavenly Father had. He is a perfect man, with a perfect love, for a perfect son--Jesus Christ. so the speaker said, as he looked at his son that sunday, he had a little insight into how it must have felt for Him to send His son to earth and watch all that he went through.

    
2. Unknown on 7/16/2006 6:29 PM

   haha, wow kristen. you just summed up my entire post with one little quote...well said

    
3. Kristen on 7/16/2006 7:48 PM

   well, it wasn't exactly little, but i hope the feeling came across. it was meaningful to me, considering that i still remember it after all this time.

    
4. sj on 7/17/2006 12:03 AM

   Lots to think about in that post and comments. All I know is that I love my family deeper than I can even express in words.