Monday, September 01, 2008

Always and Forever

Such beautiful concepts, as uplifting to the spirit as listening to ABBA songs. So romantically bewildering even when rationally impossible. Or maybe because they're rationally impossible, they can be so romantically enchanting.

In preparing for my Literature and Art class, I am reading on Greek and Roman civilizations. Whereas the Greeks excelled because of their insistence on upholding the principle of reason (Plato's ideal Republic that is built on reason alone has long been a central argument in my theory classes where most of the students are 'romanticly' inclined to love literature, a world of emotions and passion), the Romans excelled because they were like a sponge, ready to absorb other cultures and ideas, ready to be open for others to assimilated with. When you're in love you allow the other person's ideas to be part of you, to absorb you.

When you're in love you throw reason out of the window, you throw Greek order out of the window (ironically Greece was the setting for that ABBA movie that tells us to throw away reason and succumb to passion.) And it is only when you're willing to do that that love works. Rationalizing a concept as romantic (pun intended) as love would naturally lead to its destruction.

The Romans also excelled because they saw themselves as rulers of the entire world, an impossibility as history has continuously proven. And when you're in love you believe in the impossible, also much like the Romans. You believe in Always and Forever, and you're happy to believe in them, you want to believe in them, and you can't help but believe in them.

I know I'm in love because I believe in the Always and Forever. And I'm not even a romantic person.