Brief Summary
This video explores the profound influence of love, particularly sexual love, on human existence and the perpetuation of the species. It challenges the notion that love is merely a superficial attraction, arguing instead that it is a deeply ingrained instinct driven by the will to live and the desire to create future generations. The video also discusses the conflict between individual happiness and the goals of the species, highlighting how love often leads to personal sacrifices for the sake of procreation.
- Love is not just a superficial attraction but a deeply ingrained instinct.
- Sexual attraction is driven by the will to live and the desire to create future generations.
- There is often a conflict between individual happiness and the goals of the species in matters of love.
- Love can lead to personal sacrifices for the sake of procreation.
Introduction to the Topic of Love
Poets and writers frequently focus on romantic love, making it a central theme in dramas, tragedies, comedies, and classic stories across cultures. Stories like Romeo and Juliet have gained worldwide recognition, but some philosophers view deep love as an illusion, akin to a ghost that everyone talks about but no one has seen. Despite these skeptical views, the enduring presence of love as a literary and artistic subject suggests its profound importance and reality.
The Nature of Love and Its Impact
Love often begins as a strong attraction, but in certain situations, it can become so intense that individuals disregard obstacles and risk everything, even their lives. People throughout Europe sacrifice themselves for love, and many end up in asylums or commit suicide when they cannot be with their beloved. Despite these tragic outcomes, the persistence of love and its impact on people's lives cannot be denied.
Philosophical Neglect of Love
Philosophers have largely ignored the topic of love, with only a few, like Plato, addressing it in their works. Even then, their discussions often focus on stories, jokes, or the love of Greek youths. Other philosophers like Rousseau, Kant, Platner, and Spinoza have offered incomplete, superficial, or simplistic explanations of love. This lack of philosophical exploration has led the speaker to develop their own understanding of love, independent of existing theories.
The Root of Love: Sexual Attraction
Every form of love, regardless of how sacred or elevated it may seem, originates from sexual attraction. This perspective highlights the significant role of sexual feelings in various aspects of life, from art to real-life relationships. After the will to live, sexual feelings are the strongest force, influencing the thoughts and actions of young people and often becoming the primary motivation behind their efforts.
Love as a Disruptive Force
Love is a disruptive force that creates confusion, breaks relationships, and leads to broken promises. It demands sacrifices of life, health, money, status, and happiness, unsettling even the most honest individuals and turning the faithful into cheaters. This chaotic nature of love raises the question of why such a seemingly simple desire to find a partner causes so much turmoil in life.
The Importance of Love in Human Existence
Love is not a trivial matter but a crucial aspect of human existence, as important as human effort and seriousness. The true purpose of love, in all its forms, is more significant than any other goal in life, which is why people pursue it with such sincerity and intensity. Love decisions determine not only the union of two individuals but also the future of the next generation.
Love and the Future of Humanity
The existence and nature of future generations depend on today's love affairs. Just as the birth of individuals relies on sexual impulses, their true nature is shaped by the choices we make in love. This makes love a serious matter for humanity, as it determines the composition of future generations and influences the course of history.
The Will to Live and Sexual Attraction
General sexual urges, without a specific focus, represent the will to live. However, when these feelings are directed towards a particular person, they become the will to live as a specific individual. In this case, sexual impulses adopt a mask of objective admiration, confusing our thinking and serving nature's purpose.
The True Goal of Love: Procreation
Despite the seemingly pure and special nature of love, its ultimate goal is the birth of a child with a specific nature, rather than just the love between two individuals. This is why love that only guarantees emotional fulfillment but not physical union is unsatisfying, while physical relationships without love can be fulfilling. Every love story aims to produce a particular child, even if the lovers are unaware of it.
The Significance of Deep Love
The feeling of deep love, its seriousness, and every small detail become important because of its ultimate goal: the special creation of the next generation. This understanding makes the difficulties, efforts, and struggles undertaken for love meaningful. The attraction between lovers is essentially the will to live of a new individual that they can create together.
The Power of Attraction and the Creation of New Life
When lovers' eyes meet and they feel a longing for each other, it marks the beginning of a new life, a unique individual in the future. The desire for lovers to become one is fulfilled when their child is born, embodying the qualities of both parents. Conversely, strong hatred between a man and a woman indicates that their child would be undesirable.
The Role of Will to Live in Attraction
The force that draws individuals of different genders together is the will to live, which exists throughout the species. This force attracts them towards a new life that they can create together. The new individual inherits will (nature/character) from the father and intellect (mind) and body from both parents, with the child's appearance often resembling the father.
The Uniqueness of Attraction and the Beginning of New Life
Just as each person has a unique personality, the special attraction between two lovers is also unique. These are essentially the same thing: a living reality that was previously hidden. The beginning of a new life starts when parents begin to like each other. The new child is a new idea, a Platonic idea striving to manifest in the world, and this longing fuels the passion between the future parents.
The Nature of Passion and Its Levels
Passion has various levels, but its nature remains the same. Its power depends on how strongly two people connect, specifically how well a lover's individual needs align with the other person. Attraction in love is initially drawn to health, strength, and beauty, which is why youth is often preferred. The primary goal is to ensure that the special qualities of the human species are evident in the future.
The Perfect Fit and the Depth of Passion
The strongest love occurs when two people's individualities perfectly align, allowing the father's character and the mother's intellect to create a unique life. This alignment results in a passion so deep that it transcends human understanding and personal motives. The more closely two people's habits, thoughts, and qualities match, the stronger their love.
The Rarity of True Love and the Importance of Procreation
Because no two people are exactly alike, there is a specific woman for every man who can produce the best child with him. Such deep and true love is rare but possible for everyone, which is why poets' love stories resonate with us. The true purpose of love, which is procreation, underlies everything.
Friendship vs. Sexual Love
Friendship between a man and a woman can exist without sexual love due to the compatibility of their nature, thoughts, and behavior. Conversely, sexual love may be absent if their offspring would be physically or mentally deficient, as this is not conducive to nature.
The Conflict Between Love and Reason
Love can occur even when two people's thoughts or nature do not align, often causing them to forget everything else. However, marriages based on such love are often unhappy. Every person is driven by self-interest, but the rights of the species supersede those of the individual.
The Illusion of Instinct
Nature creates an illusion that makes individuals believe they are acting in their own interest when they are actually serving the species. This illusion is called instinct, which guides human desires in accordance with the species' benefit. Because human desires are individualized, nature must confuse individuals into thinking they are acting for themselves when they are fulfilling a general goal.
Instinct in Humans and Animals
External examples of instinct can be observed in animals, but the internal processes can only be understood by ourselves. While humans are often thought to have fewer instincts, they possess a strong instinct for choosing a sexual partner, which is subtle, serious, and distinct.
The Role of Beauty in Sexual Selection
When sexual urges are merely a need, beauty is irrelevant. However, selection based on beauty is not for the individual's sake but for the sake of the offspring, ensuring the best qualities of the species are passed on. Despite physical and mental variations, the true type of the species tends to reappear due to the sense of beauty that guides sexual urges.
The Importance of Beauty and Instinct
Without a sense of beauty, sexual urges would become a boring and repulsive necessity. Therefore, people are initially attracted to the most beautiful individuals, those who best represent the species' true identity. Additionally, people seek qualities in others that they lack or that are opposite to their own.
The Species' Drive for Self-Preservation
When a man sees a woman whose beauty aligns with his standards, he experiences excitement, believing that meeting her is the greatest joy. This is the species' drive to perpetuate its identity. The strong attraction to beauty ensures the maintenance of the species' type.
Instinct as a Guide for the Species' Well-being
Instinct guides individuals for the well-being of the species, while they believe they are acting for their own happiness. This illustrates the true nature of instinct, which often compels individuals to act in ways that benefit the entire species.
The Power of Instinct and the Illusion of Choice
Just as an insect undertakes great effort to lay its eggs in a specific location, humans choose a particular type of partner for sexual satisfaction, even at the cost of happiness, money, honor, or life. This is driven by nature to ensure the species' future, regardless of individual harm. Instinct is an action that appears to be goal-oriented but lacks conscious awareness of the goal.
The Role of Illusion in Human Instinct
Nature provides instinct when an individual cannot understand or is unwilling to pursue the true goal. While this is more evident in animals, it also applies to humans in sexual selection because they can understand the ultimate goal but do not pursue it with sufficient intensity. Therefore, truth appears as an illusion that controls human desires.
The Illusion of Happiness and the Disappointment of Fulfillment
This illusion leads individuals to believe that they will find the greatest happiness or fulfillment in the arms of a particular person. They struggle and sacrifice for their own happiness, but they are actually acting for the species or to create a special child that can only be born from those parents. Instinct works so perfectly that individuals often dislike or want to prevent procreation, as seen in cases of illicit love.
The Nature of Instincts in Animals
Animals also operate under an illusion, believing they are acting for their own happiness while working for the benefit of their species. Birds build nests, insects find perfect places for their eggs, and social insects create complex homes and systems. These actions are guided by an illusion that conceals the service to the species, making it appear as if they are simply performing their own tasks.
The Physiological Basis of Instinct
Creatures with strong instincts have a more active ganglionic system, which controls feelings and internal bodily activities, than their brains. This means their actions are driven by internal feelings and illusions rather than a rational understanding of reality. Every instinct follows a similar physiological process.
Instincts in Human Species
In the human species, an example of instinct is a pregnant woman's craving for specific foods, which is driven by the need for different types of blood to support the baby's development. This craving is an illusion. Women have an extra instinct, and their ganglionic system is more developed.
The Influence of the Brain on Instinct
Instincts are less pronounced in humans than in animals and are more easily distracted because the human brain is more powerful. The instinct for beauty, which guides sexual attraction, can also be confused, leading to incorrect sexual attractions.
The Instinct for Species Preservation
Every instance of sexual love is driven by an instinct to advance the species. Nature initially made men changeable in love and women constant. Men's love diminishes after fulfillment, and they find every other woman more attractive, while women's love increases after that moment.
The Natural Roles of Men and Women in Love
This difference stems from nature's goal to maximize species survival. Men can father many children, while women can only bear one child per year. Therefore, men constantly seek other women, while women bond with one man to secure a protector for their child.
The Factors of Attraction: Age and Health
To confirm that attraction to the opposite gender is a disguised instinct, we must examine the factors that attract us. These factors relate to the species' type (beauty, physical qualities) or the completion of mutual deficiencies. The most important factor is age, with women being most attractive during their reproductive years, particularly between 18 and 28.
The Importance of Physical Attributes
Health is also crucial, as major or chronic illnesses repel due to the risk of transmission to offspring. The skeleton is the foundation of the human species, and any unusual body shape is repulsive. A beautiful face cannot compensate for a poor body shape, but a good body can offset a bad face.
The Significance of Body Shape and Facial Features
Small feet are important as a unique human characteristic. Teeth are linked to health and heredity. A fleshy body is more attractive, indicating good nutrition for offspring. Full breasts are attractive to men because they relate to child nourishment. Facial beauty is also considered, with a straight nose, small mouth, and straight chin being desirable.
Women's Preferences in Men
Women typically prefer men aged 30 to 35, even if younger men are more beautiful, because they instinctively know that men at this age have the highest reproductive power. They prioritize strength and charisma over beauty, as these promise strong offspring and protection.
The Role of Character and Intellect in Attraction
The second class of sexual love focuses on qualities related to character. Women are attracted to men's willpower, decisiveness, courage, honesty, and good-heartedness. Intellect is less important because it is not passed from father to child.
The Importance of Instinct Over Intellect in Marriage
In love marriages, the minds, thoughts, and natures of men and women are often different. This is because instinct plays a greater role than intellect. The true purpose of marriage is procreation, not intellectual harmony. Marriage is a matter of the heart, not the mind.
The Role of Intellect in Men's Attraction
Men's love instinct is not determined by a woman's character, which is why intelligent men sometimes marry women who are their opposites. Intellect matters in men because it is passed from mother to child, but it is secondary to beauty.
Absolute vs. Relative Considerations in Love
The discussion shifts from absolute considerations (qualities that appeal to everyone) to relative considerations (individual preferences). People are attracted to what they lack. Love based solely on absolute reasons is superficial, while true, deep, and exclusive love arises from relative reasons.
The Completion of Deficiencies in Love
The greatest passionate love occurs when two people complete each other's deficiencies. Men and women exist on a spectrum of masculinity and femininity. When two people complete each other, it is essential that the masculinity in a man matches the femininity in a woman to balance each other.
The Instinctive Nature of Love and the Importance of Physical Compatibility
The most masculine man seeks the most feminine woman, and this combination is driven by instinct. While lovers may speak of spiritual harmony, their compatibility is ultimately about creating a perfect child. Physical compatibility is more important than spiritual harmony, which often fades after marriage.
Balancing Physical Weaknesses in Love
Individuals seek partners whose qualities balance their physical weaknesses to prevent those weaknesses from appearing in their children. For example, weak men seek strong women, and vice versa. Body size is also important, with short men preferring tall women and tall women preferring short men.
The Importance of Complexion and Temperament
Complexion also plays a role, with fair-skinned individuals often preferring dark-skinned partners. This is because fair skin and blue eyes are rare and not the basic type of humanity. In terms of temperament, people tend to prefer those with opposite temperaments, especially if their own temperament is strong.
The Pursuit of Balance and Perfection in Love
Sometimes, a man may love an unattractive woman because their abnormalities are opposite, creating a perfect balance. Such love can be intense. When individuals carefully examine every part of their partner's body, they are assessing their potential for creating a healthy offspring.
The Unconscious Drive for Species Preservation
This scrutiny is driven by the importance of the goal: the new child will inherit those parts for life. While individuals believe they are making these selections for their own happiness, they are actually acting for the benefit of the species, preserving its type.
The Silent Test of Compatibility
Humans are acting on the orders of a greater power: the species. The intense gaze exchanged between young men and women upon first meeting is a silent test, a meditation on how they will create a child together and what qualities that child will possess.
The Role of Cupid and the Power of First Impressions
Cupid's true role is to consider, think about, and plan for future generations. Personal matters are insignificant in comparison. Intense love often occurs at first sight. Shakespeare wrote, "Who ever loved, that loved not at first sight?"
The Pain of Loss and the Supremacy of Love
When someone loses their beloved, whether to a rival or death, the pain is immense because it is not just personal but also affects the species. This pain shakes the soul and spirit. Jealousy is strong, and losing one's love is the greatest sacrifice.
The Triumph of Love Over Societal Norms
When love emerges, honor, duty, and loyalty are often abandoned. Even those who fear death may cheat in love because passionate love overpowers them. They feel entitled to love, as if they have a divine right.
The Species' Goal and the Individual's Happiness
In comedies, the species' genius fulfills its goal, even if personal happiness is at risk. The audience is happy because they believe the lovers have found happiness, but they have often sacrificed their personal happiness for the species' choice.
The Tragedy of Unfulfilled Love
In love tragedies, such as Romeo and Juliet, the lovers perish when the species' aim is not achieved. A man's love can be both funny and painful because the spirit of the species takes control, altering his behavior.
The Illusion of Love and the Disappointment of Fulfillment
When love becomes extreme, the illusion is so powerful that life seems worthless without it. The fear of death disappears, and suicide may occur. The species' will completely dominates the individual's desires.
The Conflict Between Love and Personal Happiness
Even fulfilled love often brings sorrow instead of happiness because its demands clash with personal happiness and life plans. A lover may become infatuated with someone they would normally dislike or be unable to tolerate in real life.
The Power of the Species' Will
The species' will is so strong that the lover closes their eyes, ignores every flaw, and binds themselves to that person for life. This illusion lasts until the species' will is fulfilled.
The Blindness of Love and the Sacrifice for the Future
Intelligent and good men may spend their lives with women who mistreat them. Lovers are aware of the problems in their partner's character but proceed anyway. They are acting not for themselves but for a third, unborn child.
The Extremes of Love and Hate
Passionate love can become the subject of poetry, and sexual love can extend to someone one hates. When love is unfulfilled, the lover's hatred can escalate to murder-suicide.
The Unfulfilled Longing and the Spirit of the Species
When a lover feels their beloved is indifferent or enjoys their suffering, they feel oppressed because they are bound by an instinct that overrides reason. The spirit of the species constantly battles the individual's happiness, sacrificing personal joy and even the happiness of entire human races.
The Illusion of Love and the Return to Reality
The passion of love rests on an illusion that makes individuals feel that what is important for the species is also their personal happiness. When the species' purpose is fulfilled, the illusion shatters. The spirit of the species leaves the individual, who returns to their normal life and limited thinking.
The Disappointment of Fulfillment and the Loss of Poetry
The individual wonders what they gained after such a great effort, realizing they were a slave to the species' will. If Petrarch's love had been fulfilled, his poetry would have ended.
The Philosophy of Love and the Control of Instinct
This philosophy of love may not appeal to those caught in its throes, but it can help control love if reason is applied. However, what is inherently free from rules and limits cannot be controlled by rules.
Love Marriages vs. Convenience Marriages
Love marriages benefit the species, not the individuals. They believe they are marrying for their own happiness, but they are actually marrying to bring a child into the world who can only be born from them. The species unites them for this purpose, and they must then try to make it work.
The Unhappiness of Love Marriages and the Sacrifice for the Next Generation
Those drawn together by strong instinct often turn out to be very different. When the illusion shatters, the truth emerges. Love marriages are often unhappy because they benefit the next generation at the expense of the present one.
The Value of Individual Inclination and the Rarity of Good Marriages
Marriages based on convenience prioritize individual gain over the species, which is against nature's rule. Good marriages are rare because the true purpose of marriage is the future generation, not the present one.
The Hope for Friendship in Love
For sensitive and loving people, there is consolation in the possibility of friendship arising alongside passionate love. This friendship develops from the compatibility of nature and often emerges when sexual love subsides.
The Harmony of Temperament and the Essence of Love
Such friendship typically arises when the physical, moral, and intellectual qualities that initially sparked love lead to a harmony of temperament and thought, despite their differences. This is where true harmony and understanding develop.
The Metaphysics of Love and the Immortality of Nature
The metaphysics of love are connected to the speaker's overall thinking. The levels of sexual impulses, from slight liking to deep passion, stem from a serious interest in the next generation's unique personality. This interest proves that human nature never ends but lives on in the next generation.
The Species as the True Nature of Humanity
The true nature of humanity lies not in the individual but in the species. This interest in the species' distinct nature is the root of love, whether it is a slight attraction or deep passion. It is the most important thing for everyone, which is why it is called "a matter of the heart."
The Sacrifice for Love and the Immortal Part of Humanity
When this interest becomes strong, personal matters become insignificant, and individuals sacrifice them. A man loses himself in the eyes of his beloved, ready for any sacrifice, because his immortal part draws him to that girl.
The Will to Live and the Struggle of Existence
The will to live is present in every human being and remains unaffected by death. Only by breaking the will to live can one separate from their individuality and leave existence.
The Lovers' Eyes and the Perpetuation of Suffering
In the midst of life's struggles, the eyes of two lovers meet, perpetuating a world of suffering and toil.
