It's been a little while since I've written a blog - almost a month, in fact, and a lot has happened since I last wrote. Ok, not that much has happened, but it just seems like it I guess. Ah, the life of a college student. :) Anyway, I'm still dating that wonderful guy in my ward that I wrote about earlier. I don't really know what else to say, other than that we share a brain - we have so much in common, we think a lot alike, and we have the same opinions about things. It kind of boggles my mind how similar we are, but it makes getting to know one another easier. Right now, we're just working on finding things that we don't have in common. All in all, things are going well - very well, and I'm very happy.

On to the topic of this post. I have decided to address the topic of Love. There are many types of love. One can love an object; most commonly people love something that symbolizes something more meaningful, something that reminds them of some good thing in their past, or that they feel some sort of special attachment to. We love our friends and family members, which may be characterized as a deep, enduring, "love-'em-'cause-you-have-to" kind of love. This love is not romantic in any way (at least I hope not), but it consists of a more caring concern for the other person's well-being. The last type of love is the one that comes to almost everyone's mind when they hear the word: Romantic love existing between a man and a woman.

This type of love is what I want to focus on. This type of love can also be characterized by deep feelings for the other person, but it also includes the physical element of love that is emphasized by our society today. Unfortunately, the "love" expressed in movies and other forms of media is nothing more than lust - many TV relationships are built on nothing but physical attraction.

While this aspect of Romantic love is an important way to strengthen a relationship, (if used correctly; i.e. respectfully and lovingly) it should not be the basis of the entire relationship. In one of the articles that I recently read for my Marriage Preparation class, there are two other aspects of love that are equally, if not more important than the physical aspect: the emotional and the cognitive aspects.

The emotional side of love deals with the feelings associated with the relationship. It would be impossible to base the relationship entirely on this aspect, simply because emotions are somewhat fickle and volatile, and the "love" you would have for the other person would vary depending on your mood. However, it is important to have those feelings of happiness when around your significant other, or else what would be the point? 

Of the three mentioned in the article, I believe that the cognitive aspect is probably the most important, because it is the conscious choice that a person makes to love his or her significant other. The other two factors may influence your decision to love that person, but, in my opinion, the fact that you actually made that choice is more meaningful than defining love as something that just happened and that you had no control over. 

I would like to propose that there is a fourth aspect to Romantic love: the spiritual aspect. In the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints, we believe that marriage between a man and a woman is ordained of God, and that we can only become perfected and exalted if we are married and sealed in the Temple of the Lord for time and all eternity. This divine institution involves not only the two people entering into the marriage covenant, but also the Lord, and as each individual draws closer to the Lord, he or she will become closer to the other person in the relationship, and vice versa. This type of relationship is more focused on the growth and progression of the couple as a whole, not merely on the development of the individual. 

In my opinion, love is not just an emotion that we feel toward a person of the opposite sex, nor is it a physical action. If anything, it is a conscious decision, and a willingness to work together to overcome the trials of life and to progress toward perfection by coming closer to the Lord.

For more information on the spiritual aspect of love and the divine institution of marriage, please visit www.lds.org.

Tags: Love Marriage Class BYU

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