In the French/Italian film The Dreamers (by Bernardo Bertolucci) they posit an interesting theory. At one point the comment was made that there was no such thing as love but rather
that "there are only proofs of love." Allow me to disagree.
Amie Miriello's song Drifter says,
It's not in the way I can't sleep when you're by my side. It's not in the way your face is in every street sign. It's not every day someone reaches me as you did. I can recall every single time that we kissed.It is while you're away, it's a struggle for us just to stay the same. Tonight I feel you come back home like a drifter finding shelter in these arms. Tonight I feel you come back home and I know you were never really gone. It's not in the way you ignore me when I'm too proud. It's not in the way you mock me when I'm too proud. No, it's not in the way you comfort me when I cry. No, it's not in the way that you came back into my life...
Elizabeth Barret Browning in Sonnet XIV says:
If thou must love me, let it be for nought
Except for love's sake only. Do not say
'I love her for her smile - her look - her way
Of speaking gently, - for a trick of though
That falls in well with mine, and certes brought
A sense of pleasant ease on such a day' -
For these things in themselves, Beloved, may
Be changed, or change for thee, - and love, so wrought,
May be unwrought so. Neither love me for
Thine own dear pity's wiping my cheeks dry, -
A creature might forget to weep, who bore
Thy comfort long, and lose thy love thereby!
But love me for love's sake, that evermore
Thou mayst love on, through love's eternity.
Both song and sonnet capture the sentiment well. There are, certainly, proofs of love (or reasons by which to love) yet they are not the basis of true love. All these things prove to be fickle, whereas love is fundamental and we must learn to love for love's sake alone. That is the way in which God loves. He does not love us for anything in and of ourselves.
Lastly let me show Blaise Pascal whose article The Passions of Love (VI, 17) from his book Thoughts says,
...But he who loves a person on account of that person's beauty, does he love the person? No; for the small-pox, which kills the beauty without killing the person, will destroy the love. And if one loves me for my judgment, for my memory, does he love me? No; for I may lose those faculties without losing myself...
that "there are only proofs of love." Allow me to disagree.
Amie Miriello's song Drifter says,
It's not in the way I can't sleep when you're by my side. It's not in the way your face is in every street sign. It's not every day someone reaches me as you did. I can recall every single time that we kissed.It is while you're away, it's a struggle for us just to stay the same. Tonight I feel you come back home like a drifter finding shelter in these arms. Tonight I feel you come back home and I know you were never really gone. It's not in the way you ignore me when I'm too proud. It's not in the way you mock me when I'm too proud. No, it's not in the way you comfort me when I cry. No, it's not in the way that you came back into my life...
Elizabeth Barret Browning in Sonnet XIV says:
If thou must love me, let it be for nought
Except for love's sake only. Do not say
'I love her for her smile - her look - her way
Of speaking gently, - for a trick of though
That falls in well with mine, and certes brought
A sense of pleasant ease on such a day' -
For these things in themselves, Beloved, may
Be changed, or change for thee, - and love, so wrought,
May be unwrought so. Neither love me for
Thine own dear pity's wiping my cheeks dry, -
A creature might forget to weep, who bore
Thy comfort long, and lose thy love thereby!
But love me for love's sake, that evermore
Thou mayst love on, through love's eternity.
Both song and sonnet capture the sentiment well. There are, certainly, proofs of love (or reasons by which to love) yet they are not the basis of true love. All these things prove to be fickle, whereas love is fundamental and we must learn to love for love's sake alone. That is the way in which God loves. He does not love us for anything in and of ourselves.
Lastly let me show Blaise Pascal whose article The Passions of Love (VI, 17) from his book Thoughts says,
...But he who loves a person on account of that person's beauty, does he love the person? No; for the small-pox, which kills the beauty without killing the person, will destroy the love. And if one loves me for my judgment, for my memory, does he love me? No; for I may lose those faculties without losing myself...
Any film, song, or book that I might reference does not mean that I endorse the entirety of the content for that film, song, or book. This is applicable particularly with the film THE DREAMERS.
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