The theory of existentialism is probably the most negative theory I have ever heard in my life- but it is true in many ways. Systems such as school, politics, educational goals, and fashion were created and enforced by humankind. In the end, these factors are meaningless to the universe because they are all “made up.” However, you cannot put love in the category of systems.
Love is a feeling- it is not a made up system. Sure, the word love was created by a person, but the feeling was not chosen by anyone. Love is its own emotion. It is a mix of happiness, anger, sadness, excitefulness, and can even cause physical feelings such as heartache. Love is felt by babies towards their mothers even if they have never heard the word.
I understand existentialism, and I realize that many factors in life are truly absurd. But love should not be represented in this system. It is a strong sense that most people experience at some point in their lives whether they want to or not.
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I agree, I don’t think that love is a man-made system that separates people from their meaning in life, unlike those systems like making money or doing good. I do think there is something to be said about traditional romance stories or family structures that are commonly imposed upon people. Society finds it important to find a romantic partner early in life similar to how you’re supposed to find a lifelong career. And those relationships people often take from pop culture; people like to mimic what they see in movies. I would consider those structures already put in place systems. But I think that love can represent a lot of things to a person and can be a characteristic of a person who has gone full on existentialist.
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I agree, love is not like money, it isn’t something created by society. It is a feeling, just like happiness and sadness, and it manifests itself in many different ways. Existentialist thought is fine to criticize the ways love, especially romantic love, has been capitalized and molded into a societal pressure for marriage at a young age. What it doesn’t understand is that love goes far beyond the romantic. It is tangible in everyday life, and shows up through the simplest of gestures. It is very real.
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This is a really good explanation. I was also struggling with the idea that in existentialism love is categorized with structures such as government and power. Although love can be used to create meaning, it goes beyond this because it is absurd in its own way– it happens randomly and can’t be controlled. I agree that it should be categorized separately from these systems.
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I totally agree Maria, as I was reading your post I began to think of how other emotions are not necessarily considered absurd or systematic. Rather, like love, the only absurdity in its existence is the fact that this emotion can be hard to control. This profound feeling that most of us experience at some point or another cannot be categorized with the rest of the existential systems.
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