The Four Loves

This recording of Lewis reading us one of his essays was interesting at first, but it seemed to drag on for an infinite amount of time. I could not concentrate throughout it since I just found myself looking around getting distracted by random people and things in the classroom. However, in the few moments when I was able to momentarily refocus before drifting off I heard a few good points. Lewis said that "No passion is self-preservative." He beautifully illustrated that by saying how the feeling of diving into a lake does not last and you must eventually start swimming to get out or keep yourself afloat. This is much like love because many people become overwhelmed by the feeling of falling in love and before they realize it they get themselves into a situation that is not easy to get out of. They wind up in a relationship that is unhealthy and they cannot figure out where that original feeling went. The funny, yet tragic, thing is that no matter how many times someone may go through this, they still continue to make the same mistakes. However, for the people who realize this, this phenomena can be very frightening. Often these are the people who may never marry in their lifetimes, because they are either scared of getting hurt or they do not know how to keep their relationships alive. I'm no expert, but I think that the best way to deal with love is to go into it with an aggressive approach while still guarding your heart. That means that dating is perfectly fine and is encouraged, but taking it slow is a good idea. People need to take a step back and not let their initial emotions lead them into something stupid. I think that is also another good reason for not having sex out of marriage. Suppose someone were to say that they want to know if they are sexually compatible with another person before marriage, and they did in fact go ahead and have sex...That creates unrealistic expectations for married life, especially if you are still being overwhelmed by falling in love. Married life becomes somewhat of a let down and will breed unhappiness. So, don't be stupid about love and be deceived by your mind.