Love... no wait, it's DESIRE.

This post may seem incoherent to some, but I think that comes with the topic.
As I am studying for the upcoming test, I read over our short in class discussion about Desire. And about how Prof Kalmar suggested that our love objects are not ultimate or exclusive. This being due to the fact that Desire is shaped by Reality. So although our love may unite us with certain people, Desire is more general... it is not only found in that one love object, but more generally for anything that makes us feel Love and we only know when we encounter it.

As a Psych student, and knowing Robert Sternberg's Triangular Theory of Love (see picture), I've always found that Love is something that is hard to grasp and I do believe that it's something that you'll know only when you encounter it and that there can be many love objects, depending on the -type- of love. But our discussion about Desire and the Real has enlightened my perspective.

Relating this to how our Desire always points towards the Real, in hopes of uniting us with the other half, I can see how this can be so frustrating. From a psychological perspective, it is frustrating because two people may be trying to find the same Type of love in each other but their relationship may not be falling under their ideal Type of love. From an anthropological perspective, the desire to unite with the other half is frustrating because as we get closer to attaining our Desire, we become afraid because we fear the loss of our Reality as we approach the Real.

I think the Psychological perspective on Love is much more optimistic in that it seems more possible to attain the ultimate Consummate Love with another, so long as you have the 3 main ingredients. Whereas Desire is much more general and free-floating, and only seems to make us feel repelled by it in the end because we fear the loss of our sense of Self as we come closer to fulfilling our Desires.

However, I also think that the representation of Love as a Desire that points towards the Real is ultimately what we are all looking for. Not a formulaic compatibility with another, but another half that completes us. And I think that most classic love stories and films portray Love as Desire for the Real as well, with the protagonists wondering why they have fallen for this other person with whom they share a frustrating but chemical relationship with.

I'm going to leave this post as is, terribly inconclusive, and go back to studying now... ;P