Love And Pain

There is no single thing that can be loved.  With different objects of love, the state of having personal affection for something or longing for its wellbeing, come different ways that this affection or attachment can lead to pain on the part of the one who loves.  In fact, while affection can be enticing and intoxicating to the point of some people ignoring the devastation that can result, all love only exists alongside the possibility of great pain that can rival or exceed the former.  Whether the love in question is ideological, social but platonic, romantic, or of some other kind, there is unfortunately no way to escape the capacity for hurt in the form of revelation, regret, or loss.

One can love reason very deeply, for it is the only intrinsic part of reality and the only foundation of all other things, but this can bring pain when one encounters others, who very often disregard or even outright deny the truths of reason entirely; I have met many people who go so far into their stupidity that they claim logic axioms are not epistemologically self-evident or metaphysically true in themselves, yet they tend to hold to total assumptions, such as that scientific laws will remain constant in the future with what they appear to be now.  Here, love of truth, which is ultimately grounded in reason alone, can bring great frustration and anger, though not towards reason.  If one was the only person in existence, love of reason could still bring pain due to recognizing that oneself does not exist by logical necessity along with reason to eternally grasp it.

As for beings, one can love fellow people, and still there are many ways that this can be bittersweet far more than pleasant.  Friends or romantic partners can neglect or betray reason or you yourself, complicating your life immensely in a vast number of possible ways.  They can find themselves in difficult situations which are in turn difficult for you by extension as someone who cares about them in a very personal way.  If one did not love them, one could not be hurt in these exact ways, or certainly not to the same extent.  It is the affection and its very personal nature which allows the pain to be, when applicable, so direct, so searing, and, so enduring.

Beings and belongings can be taken away from us without warning, perhaps irrevocably.  A cherished possession could crumble to dust or fall into disrepair.  So, too, can people.  Whether by relational drifting or health impairment or death itself, people might have their presence or social capacity diminished or be removed from one's life altogether.  Some people might subjectively prefer, if they were to think about the matter, to never love at all if it will end in any sort of heartbreak.  While perhaps a certain number of them might think it is only a given case of love that could lead to/involve suffering, this is an absolute falsity.

The logical possibility of heartbreak, loss, or regret does not mean that these things will come about, to be sure.  It is still true that there is no such thing as love that does not have the possibility to become complicated by pain in some way.  When one conscious being loves another being, as opposed to a mere physical belonging, this potential is all the greater, for an inanimate or static possession cannot do things to disregard or emotionally hurt you.  All the same, reluctance to love does not necessitate that there is nothing that deserves love--reason and God would be chief among these if anything deserves this kind of affection or loyalty at all, for reason is inherently true and God's moral nature, which must be consistent with reason as a prerequisite to existence, would be what would make anything objectively good to begin with.