I'd roll up my shirtsleeves if I was wearing long sleeves
Alright, back to the fray; Go here first if you haven't already. If that was all there was, then we'd be just about done. Which we basically are, but a few points:
Yeah, it makes sense that "you don't need" would come across (unavoidably, and I'm sure to more people than just Aaron) as more of a personal directive than the slightly more accurate "anyone can". I'm sure one of the reasons it naturally occurs to me to state it initially in the first form is because I want people to question their beliefs on the subject; not Aaron, necessarily, because he's a hell of a lot more self-aware than most people I know, but people in general.
Aaron's point #3 is one of the most important things that Western society (and Eastern society as well, for all I know; typically, I specify Western society not because the other half of the world is different, but because I don't know enough about it to say whether it is) continually ignores. To its detriment.
So, that's all she wrote, right? Nope. Jer threw his hat in the ring as well, right here. I mostly agree with him, but just to add my two cents:
re: the paragraph that starts "I think that defining and knowing real romantic love...": This is definitely something I believe. The only way I could tell you the love of my life would be if I knew I was about to die.
I'm not sure if the terminology we use is always the same, but I can definitely agree that in my opinion the best relationships don't have a sustained state of what Jer's dubbed romantic love as the goal; mostly because the people in those good relationships know enough to know that's a doubly foolhardy goal (first because it is impossible, second because if it was possible you wouldn't actually want it once you'd gotten it).
And lastly, as far as the greater type of relationship being godly: you should definitely read Spinoza's Ethic. He'd agree, and although my definition of godly is probably different from Jer's, other than that I'd probably agree as well.
Yeah, it makes sense that "you don't need" would come across (unavoidably, and I'm sure to more people than just Aaron) as more of a personal directive than the slightly more accurate "anyone can". I'm sure one of the reasons it naturally occurs to me to state it initially in the first form is because I want people to question their beliefs on the subject; not Aaron, necessarily, because he's a hell of a lot more self-aware than most people I know, but people in general.
Aaron's point #3 is one of the most important things that Western society (and Eastern society as well, for all I know; typically, I specify Western society not because the other half of the world is different, but because I don't know enough about it to say whether it is) continually ignores. To its detriment.
So, that's all she wrote, right? Nope. Jer threw his hat in the ring as well, right here. I mostly agree with him, but just to add my two cents:
re: the paragraph that starts "I think that defining and knowing real romantic love...": This is definitely something I believe. The only way I could tell you the love of my life would be if I knew I was about to die.
I'm not sure if the terminology we use is always the same, but I can definitely agree that in my opinion the best relationships don't have a sustained state of what Jer's dubbed romantic love as the goal; mostly because the people in those good relationships know enough to know that's a doubly foolhardy goal (first because it is impossible, second because if it was possible you wouldn't actually want it once you'd gotten it).
And lastly, as far as the greater type of relationship being godly: you should definitely read Spinoza's Ethic. He'd agree, and although my definition of godly is probably different from Jer's, other than that I'd probably agree as well.
