Love.

Our Philosophy prof asked us to choose one philosopher and react/evaluate on his ideas.

I am posting my answers to the questions:

DOES GOD EXIST?

HOW DO I LEAD A HAPPY LIFE?

WHAT IS TRUTH?

WHAT IS THE RIGHT THING TO DO?

In the hope that, somehow, this will enlighten you

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Kant claimed that, it is not enough for the effects or consequences of our behavior to agree with the moral law; the truly moral act is done for the sake of the moral law.[1] So then, how do we define what the moral law really is? What really is the right thing to do? And why does every human being feel a great need to have knowledge of it?

I.                    The Truth about the Moral Law

As what Kant said, all of us are under some kind of obligation[2], which we call the moral law. To this I agree to. We’ve always had that nagging feeling of guilt when we do something which we think is wrong.

But, can “what we think is wrong” be the basis of what is really wrong? Can “what we think is right” be the basis of what is really right? Is the right thing to do subjective? Or is it applicable to everybody?

Every one of us did not first search for the Right thing to do.

What we first searched for, is happiness—what is going to make us happy.

Every child cried because they were either hungry, thirsty, or need to poop or pee. Every child cried so that someone would come to make an uneasy feeling—that is making them unhappy—go away. Not because they found it fit to cry at particular hours of the night.

Growing up, we learned to get food on our own, learned to go to the toilet on our own, but then, no matter how independent we can now be—food, water, going to the toilet for relief—they don’t seem to make us contented, as before, anymore. The basis for our happiness is not that simple anymore—it went notches higher. And this is because, growing up, we began to interact with the world, particularly with people around us. And we discover that we are social beings—that others play a great role on our happiness.

Why is that?

Why do we feel the need to be accepted by others? To be respected by others? To be looked-up to? Why do we feel the longing to have personal relationships with others?

Because all of us, no matter how strong or weak we are, how attractive or unattractive we are, how wealthy or poor we are, how wise or foolish we are, we all want to be loved. And, for that reason, love plays an enormous role in our happiness.

The truth about humanity is that every person needs Love.

Behind every action committed, behind every word said, behind every decision made is the struggle—the cry—of every human being to be loved.

But greater still, is man’s need to Love. Because by loving, we discover a great truth which is hidden from many—that we are being loved, all along, by an Eternal, Everlasting Love.

Because by knowing how to Love, we get to know Love as it really is—not just one side of it.

 Therefore, humanity’s moral law—that which we feel to be our obligation—is Love.

In every human being is the necessity to love and be loved.

Now you do not need anyone to write to you about brotherly love, since you have been taught by God to love each other.[3]

II.                  Love and the Right Thing to Do

And so, what is Love?

Kahlil Gibran, in his book, The Prophet, said,

“But if in your fear you would seek only love’s peace and love’s pleasure,
  Then it is better for you that you cover your nakedness 

and pass out of love’s threshing-floor,
  Into the seasonless world where you shall laugh,

but not all of your laughter, and weep, but not all of your tears.

Love gives naught but itself and takes naught but from itself.
  Love possesses not nor would it be possessed;
  For love is sufficient unto love.

[…] Love has no other desire but to fulfill itself. ”[4]

Love is not all peace and pleasure—with love also come suffering and struggle—the struggle to surpass our human nature which cherishes everything convenient, everything comfortable, everything self-pleasing.

We need to exceed our human nature for us to be able to love wholly; because love will never be satisfied by the easy things that our human nature rejoices in. Our human nature, also, fears a lot of things—all things inconvenient, all things uncomfortable, and all things not self-pleasing—but there is no fear where love exists. Rather, perfect love banishes fear, for fear involves punishment, and the person who lives in fear has not been perfected in love.[5]

Love—being humanity’s moral law—is divine, for it is not subject to sin, to transgressions or to any flaw, because Love gives naught but itself and takes naught but from itself.

Love is divine and the Divinity—the person who does not love does not know God, because God is Love.[6]

Love, like God, is unconditional; hence, we should love not just a few chosen ones, but everybody; if you love those who love you, what thanks do you deserve? Why, even sinners love those who love them.[7]

And, most importantly, we should love Love itself, for love should be reciprocated, so that we could experience it completely. For if love plays a big role in our happiness, wouldn’t it be appropriate, then, that our love be complete, so that our happiness, also, will be complete?

And yet, the question remains, how do we love?

“Love is patient, love is kind,

  Love is not envious or boastful or arrogant or rude.

  It does not insist on its own way; it is not irritable or resentful;

  It does not rejoice in wrongdoing, but rejoices in the truth.

  Love bears all things, believes all things,

  hopes all things, endures all things.”[8]

Love should encompass all our actions, all our behaviors, all our choices, and our will; and still, to reiterate what Kant said, it is not enough for the effects or consequences of our behavior to agree with the moral law; the truly moral act is done for the sake of the moral law.[9]

It is, therefore, not enough for the effects or consequences of our actions and behaviors to agree with Love; the truly moral act is done for the sake of Love.

The Right Thing to Do, therefore, is to Love.

Love never does anything that is harmful to its neighbor. Therefore, love is the fulfillment of the law.[10]

III.                God’s Existence

Yet, although we know all these about love, there is still the harsh reality that it is not easy to love.

“When love beckons to you, follow him,
  Though his ways are hard and steep.
  And when his wings enfold you yield to him,
  Though the sword hidden among his pinions may wound you.
  And when he speaks to you believe in him,
  Though his voice may shatter your dreams
  as the north wind lays waste the garden.”[11] 

This is where we ask, why do we need to love again?

To be able to be happy.

Why do we need to be happy?

Because we are incomplete.

Why are we incomplete?

Because we are apart from God.

Our incompleteness necessitates us to have a Complete Being which can, in time, complete us.

That is why we would always be incomplete if we remain apart from God.

God is Love[12]; and, for that reason, we will never be complete until we are with Love—until we have love in us.

And only when we are complete will we truly be able to live “life”—for only then, would we know the secrets of our hearts and know exactly what we want and how to achieve them.

The secrets of our hearts are “secrets”, because they were hidden from us by the world. And only when we learn to see past all of the world’s materialism—only when we learn to love—will our hearts’ true desire be revealed to us.

These desires, like our incompleteness, are a gratification of God’s existence. Because when everything else material, everything else temporary, and everything else transient passes away, nothing will remain but that which is eternal, everlasting and complete. Nothing will remain but Love. And so, Love is the fulfillment of everything. 

IV.               Conclusion

We have now come to the conclusions that;

Humankind’s moral law is to Love, because only Love, complete, can suffice to make us completely happy. That, to Love, then, is the Right Thing to Do. And that Love is ultimate proof of God’s existence.