The Concept Of Love

From Atlantic Roleplay Wiki

Title: The Concept of Love

Author: Kaelthir

This book is a response to Ekoth's book, On Love.

Most people live their lives unaware of the damage simply living does to their soul. The natural state is Oblivion, all souls united as one. While caught in the living world, souls are separated and seek to fill the empty place they feel deep within them. Many call this need love.

Love is a powerful emotion which can become an intense weakness if not properly handled. Unfortunately, the majority of society has built love up into a thing to be worshipped. Love worship has caused intense repression problems in certain societies such as Sanctus where it is regarded as the ultimate goal of life, and must be expressed through ridiculous rituals.

Ekoth's book, On Love, goes far more into detail with the problem with love and society. What Ekoth's book does not go into is that the problem with love is the result of a much more serious issue, a misguided society. Love in many aspects is treated similarly as hate in lightbringer societies, two aspects that are core to the human animal. Their society focuses on treating these aspects as sin that need to be hidden away and not discussed. One cannot simply enjoy being with another and filling their lust needs, one must slowly build up a relationship filled with tiny meaningless goals.

The first time holding the other, the first kiss, eventually leading up to marriage. The entire system builds up unrealistic expectations about love and the perfect married life. Love worship. While the slow buildup of ritualistic behavior is certainly repressive, after marriage comes further repression.

The unrealistic promises of love will often fall unfulfilled, and the couple will focus on repressing their displeasure and pretending to the world that they are leading the ideal life love gives. The happy housewife and dutiful husband, both caught in an endless declining spiral and awaiting their deaths.

The solution to strengthening ourselves is to accept that love is part of the living condition, just as hate is. The anti-virtue Despise teaches that we must accept hate is natural and should be experienced, and as with all of the anti-virtues it requires discipline and control to practice without having it become a weakness. Love is the same. To overcome it we must accept that we will feel it, and that when we do to not let it influence our decisions.

Love, just like rage, envy, or arrogance, can be a deadly weakness if one cannot control it. Simply pretending it does not exist or that one does not feel it doesn't train oneself to deal with it should someone penetrate their mental barriers.

Because of how ill-prepared lightbringer societies are at handling love and their emotions, the most important reason why love should not be entirely scorned is it is a powerful tool to be used. Even the Umbran Order of the Ebon Skull understood this and had a path dedicated to those who specialized in influencing others using love and lust as their tools. While we may have stronger mental defenses against love due to our apathetic nature towards outsiders, we need to ensure that all of us can control our bodies as honed tools so our enemies never have the upper hand:

We cannot let them pander to our egos and make us arrogant.

We cannot let them rob us and make us regret.

We cannot let their numbers fill us with fear.

And, we cannot let them try and corrupt our faith, luring us away with false love.