Monday, December 19, 2011

Seriously, love is not your only problem

You know what I've been doing all this while?
Apart from the time at the hospital, I've been dosing myself with an overdose of Korean drama series. Next week I'm planning to not let myself be lulled into believing this illusion of perpetual holiday. I got to start preparing for the next stage of life next year! A new job, a new place, new chances and opportunities.
What would be in store for me next year?
Haha, that is for Allah to know and for me to find out ;)
But watching these shows got me thinking how easy it is to win a woman's heart. A bit of care and thoughtfulness for the other person is all that it takes. I think everyone knows this, even if they don't always remember. Love is also not a business transaction, so you can't do things and then expect things to come right back at you. There is no price to pay. It is free to be given away. But only according to the freewill of concerned parties. It is also not always recognizable, you could be someone's moon and stars but you don't even have an inkling of the situation.
So, please be careful at who you be nice to. If they fall and love you, sometimes you don't even notice. So don't go out in this world trying to be nice to every single person without limits. They might interpret it wrongly, and you can't be blamed because as always, you were only being nice.
Pathetic. A very flawed system, I must say. How can it be otherwise? You can see for yourself how many lonely hearts are around you, wandering the world like lost souls on purgatory punishment. It would be easier if everyone know what is what and never be mistaken again.
I hope these souls know and remember that finding love or whatever is not your sole purpose in this life. After love, what then? If love is the only purpose, then those who have found true love should die right away because the objective of their living have been fulfilled. What use are you to the world now when you already served your purpose? But we don't see people dying after they have found true love. So love cannot be the main aim in this life. An accessory item, maybe, but not the main.
Furthermore, it wouldn't be fair to those who don't have anyone. If love is the sole purpose, because they don't have anyone then they have clearly failed to fulfil their obligation. I don't want these people to die, but if they are not of much use, why deplete this world of its resources? Chances should be given to people who have the potential to find someone. This process is a perfectly normal phenomena, "survival of the fittest". But as we don't see people dying everyday for failing to find love, clearly love is not the sole purpose.
It is hard to get away from the idealized stereotype life path that has been deeply etched into our minds but sometimes I suspect that people have forgotten the true reason for us being sent here. Excuse the shallow depth of my knowledge but isn't the term khalifah means that we are leaders and have to be always responsible for something? Khalifah does not suggest singularity at all. For me it indicates a team, a group moving together under the command of the leader. But now, every goal, every dream has been thoroughly individualized that we dissociate ourselves from the masses. Recognize these mottoes? "Fulfill your dreams" "All that matters is you" "You can do it".  We don't identify ourselves to be part of something bigger anymore. None of these have evil connotations but everyday, all the time it is just the mantra "me, myself and I".
Sure, I am guilty for this too, and I still am. But don't you feel unsatisfied? We have to go try and seek a bigger playing field, to take our minds away from just thinking about ourselves and what is ours only.
It is true that you have to build yourself first and then only can you afford to think about others. But I think there is a distinction between building yourself for self-satisfaction and building yourself but keeping an eye on a bigger picture all the while. Niat is the key. This is certainly not easy, but I hope we all try to break free from the chronic diseases of apathy and narcissism.
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Hmm..I wonder how we got from Korean drama to this :p

6 comments:

said...

I have to disagree. You're demoting love to it's lowest and smallest form: nothing more than just an affection between two human beings.

There is more to love than just a mutual affection shared between two person. Love is bigger than that.

Other than material and physical love, there is also spiritual love. The highest form of love, that transcends dimension, space and time. It's divine.

Love is needed in our pursuit of happiness. You can never be truly happy if you're not capable of loving another (person, object, or even an idea). Be it physical or metaphysical.

And life IS about the pursuit of happiness. That's what people live and die for. However, the very definition of happiness and the means and ends to find one is different from one person to the next one.

Sure, love is not the end by itself. But love is part of our nature. Human nature. To say that love is a collateral, disposable, unimportant, is akin to say that a mind, a leg or a limb is an accessory: something you can live without (by choice).

Like you said, there's always a need to look at the bigger picture of things.

=)

'Aini said...

Nice one, darling.. Love is not our sole purpose. We should love and make the world better ^___^ Korean drama always open oit mind into something not related at all, I guess. Hehe~

Ice Rose Princess said...

But, I am talking about the affection between two persons. I realize there are many kinds of love but this particular true love problem, for me at least, I see as debilitating. I don't know about guys but if you are a woman and you fail to marry or have a potential somebody to be with you when you're old then you are a sad failure and everyone will pity you. They don't see your success, or other things that you have done or achieved: all they see is a spinster and it is entirely the woman's fault.
I don't think this is fair...
What I am saying is that even though it is deemed to be essential nowadays, love is not the sole purpose for living. There are so many things to do out there, so many things that need our attention. For me, love is rahmat. It'll come to you as both a gift and a test. So you can't really demand it as something you *have* to have. When it is yours and Allah has set it, then it will be yours. But while waiting for this rahmat, you cant just mope around feeling wretched. Bear in mind that you have to strive for everything, even love. So you have to do everything to earn love, to be finally worthy of it. How? By fulfilling our responsibilities as khalifah of this world. I actually don't like saying it this way because it sounds cheesy but it is how it ought to be. So a little cheesiness is pardoned :p
If you say life IS about the pursuit of happiness, maybe it is. But not personal happiness, I think it should be shared :)

Ice Rose Princess said...

'Aini, yes, let's focus on the pursuit of other and more greater love to make the world a better place. Macam 'Heal the world' by MJ. Haha, idealist betul la kan. Tapi mana tau, masa kita sibuk mengasihiNya, Dia kurniakan seseorang untuk mengasihi kita juga :)

said...

Oh, okay. In that case, just so you know, I'm with Nusra on this true love-marriage thing. She said, just because you're in love with someone, doesn't mean you have to marry them.

I guess it boils down to what love really means to you. Is it exclusive or are you willing to share? Um, I think that sounds pretty weird. Haha.

I agree that love (between two person) is not the sole purpose for living. But to say that love is an accessory or even dismissive, I think that's too darn cold.

I understand what you mean about the blame game. Just because the people around you feels that way, does not make it a valid fact. But of course, easy for me to say this and that since I'm a guy and I could act like it doesn't bother me. But getting nagged about it on daily basis is pretty annoying to be honest. Haha.

At the end of the day, I agree with you. Life is more than just a journey to find a soul mate and settling down. There is so many to learn and to discover. To improve and to give back. If you can find a true love along the way, good for you, eh Doc? =)

Ice Rose Princess said...

Haha, cold. Yeah, saying that everybody just ought to die is kinda cold. Just about as cold as Wislawa Szymborska in her masterpiece "True Love". My stance is the same as her. But reading that piece makes you realize that saying something to yourself over and over again to convince the mind to believe something other than what the heart believes is just human nature.

Loving someone but don't have to marry them..well, yes, but don't you at least want to?

And what do you mean by sharing? Are you by any chance suggesting a golden umbrella? I don't even have a paper umbrella, let alone the gold one ;D