[Hong Wu]

What is love? I believe that love is that thing (or things) which you would give up other things in the material world for. If you are willing to give up your materiality for something, that by my definition makes the thing you love spiritual. This is why "love conquers all" or why love is a path to transcendence. It can inspire you to leave behind the trappings of other things that matter less and help you to discover the real you. This is also why Christ is the supreme manifestation of love in religion, he loved us enough to die for us.

With this definition of love in mind, I would like to talk about another concept which I call constructive vs. deconstructive truth. I believe that a "constructive truth" makes things seem better while a "deconstructive truth" makes things seem worse or less worthy of respect. Note that they can both be true at the same time but they are different facets of the truth. The real truth (of anything) is like a crystal with many facets and a human can usually only see one or two facets at a time.

Now, let's compare the definition of love from the first paragraph with another definition. According to another definition, love is nothing more than an electro-chemical reaction in the brain. The brain releases many different chemicals, including (but not limited to) adrenaline, dopamine, norepinephrine, phenylethylamine, oxytocin... and the brain can develop a resistance to some of the chemicals associated with the feeling that is sometimes called love. This means that love, as a rush or emotional high, will never retain its greatest heights although some of the sensations associated with it can last. This is because only some of the associated chemicals are among those that the brain grows resistant to. In the case of other chemicals, no resistance builds.

There are many implications to this. The first implication is that if you view love as a way to entertain yourself in a manner analogous to doing a drug, you are bound to be disappointed because it will not work forever. The second implication is that, if you are a rather shallow person, you will never be able to find lasting happiness or satisfaction because some of the chemicals will stop working for you. The third implication is that you are some kind of fleshy robot, destined to grind its gears, break down, grow old, etc.

Now let's return to the idea of two forms of truth. If someone focuses upon a constructive facet of truth when defining love, this means that love can last forever and transcend material things. This is because love is when someone can dedicate themselves to something in a way that is extra-emotional and therefore extra-material. In contrast, someone could focus upon a deconstructive facet of love. In this case they will make themselves (and perhaps others) miserable.

The lesson here is that we have a choice in viewing truth in a constructive or deconstructive way. The best thing a person can do for themselves is to seek out constructive truth. The worst thing they can do is allow deconstructive truth to satisfy them or make them give up on having a positive view of the world, a view according to which it is something that can be overcome.