💾 Archived View for tilde.pink › ~imbrica › en › txt › love.gmi captured on 2022-06-03 at 23:56:29. Gemini links have been rewritten to link to archived content
⬅️ Previous capture (2021-12-03)
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I so much appreciate nihilists.
They remind me not to be fooled by dreams, expectations and are great at destroying your idealism.
No fantasy is big enough to be destroyed by them. They are merciless against all hopes and dreams. Wonderful world destroyers.
But they may not be the best sources when the subject is care.
When you are dealing with a truly hopeless situation, the energy gained from burning up hope is useless since there is really nothing more to do with whatever energy is gained, it's not about debating the importance of values anymore.
It's just grief.
When the terror has already settled in, there may be not much to destroy anymore.
There are many kinds of nihilists. Some are prone to destroying values because they despise the illusions we are sold everyday. They know the Earth would take over from here and provide a lot more health than industrialist scientists and doctors ever could.
Some are far more egoistic, and center their own pleasure. They need no justification for doing what they want, no consequences, no hearing the words of someone else.
I'm glad we have nihilists to smash romantic love. To burn foolish love, manipulative love and commodified love.
I'm glad we have them to make it crystal clear how love can be just an excuse to shield ourselves from the world and indulge in consumerism while validating each other ad nauseam.
But there's also the love that refuses to overly give, and refuses to overly receive.
It's the love that has outgrown romantic love and consumerist love alike.
It has nothing to do with sex. It's not limited, it's not for just one person. It's a friend's love, but not reserved to friends.
It's not reserved in any way.
It's capable of listening, and opening up.
It refuses to harm oneself and to punish others.
It's not sacrifice. It's not self-effacement.
It's not perfectionist. It doesn't demand, it just reminds.
It reminds us about kindness and quiet.
It reminds us about not having to be any better.
It reminds us we are already moving where we are headed.
It reminds us to value and celebrate.
It's just self-respect and respect for others not having to obey you.
At the same time, obvious and rare.
We don't depend on romantic love. But we all depend on some measure of care. We all depend on some measure of affection, even if from ourselves.
If we can't learn to have that for ourselves, and can't expect it from others, and lastly, if the idea of negating such expectations never arrives at us, what happens?
We become sick.
Deeply so.
It's time this society stops expecting such love to be given only by those impelled to do the emotional labor of cultivating it — the oppressed and the loneliest among the oppressed.
By making them see how much they need it in their despair, and then robbing them of their love in exchange for crumbles.
The consumerist and the romantic idealist must realize that their love won't last. That they are poisoning the river where their "loved" drink.
They should realize their "peaceful love" is a trap.
When a love that is not afraid to stand up for itself arises, no priest of non-violence is able to contain it.
No amount of praying and damnation stops it.
That love can bring multitudes to their feet.
It can disarm the loaded feeling this word carries, almost as much as does the divine.
So where are those loves?
Where did we drop them?
Or were they taken?
Or did we rob each other of them?
Was it ten or twenty or a hundred years ago?
How do we find them?
Not to hold them dear, but to finally burn them to ashes.
Never to be seen again.
But taken into the Earth, as ashes.