I Love You

Summary

I Love You reflects on affection, distance, and emotional depth—exploring how love shapes connection, meaning, and devotion at luciditybooks.

I love you. We tell a relative or a friend that we love them. Do we really mean what we say? Or are we only making a conventional statement? How can you love someone who you do not spend time with and have shared experiences with?

Distance does not bring closeness even if you have much affection for the other person. This distance can be in kilometers or in lifestyles. On the other hand, distance can bring closeness. I suppose it depends on the temperament of the person involved.

According to Wikipedia, “Love encompasses a range of strong and positive emotional states. These include mental states from the most sublime virtue. This is a virtue or a good habit. It also includes the deepest interpersonal affection and the simplest pleasure.”

Of course, you can’t believe most things you read or hear nowadays. It is up to the individual to define what love means to them.

When I tell my grandchildren that I love them, what do I mean? Age and distance separate us, so we do not have shared experiences. The care and affection are there but they lack depth.

A quick search tells me this about depth that is related to the topic at hand. (1) the distance from the top or surface to the bottom of something. (2) the quality of being intense or extreme. (3) complexity and profundity of thought. Only quoting a few definitions.

Ideapod.com tells me that emotional depth is, “Emotional depth is the ability to register emotions. It involves understanding other people’s emotions. It can often be mixed with emotional intelligence.”

So, what does relational depth mean to me? To me it means being emotionally, spiritually, and physically connected. The outer shell of this depth is the spoken word that is only the conveyance of an inner feeling.

For me, saying I love you is not a conventional statement uttered to fill air space. It is a meaningful expression of how I feel towards that person. But what do I know except that which I know and feel.

And since what I know and feel is transitory, I love you is for the moment. I have no say so about always and forever. Even though that is my resolve.

I am not making a vague statement when I tell someone that I love them, or am I? I have not felt any love for myself. How can I be sure that what I am feeling is love for someone else?

Britannica.com tells me that, “Love is an emotion characterized by strong feelings of affection. These feelings arise due to kinship, companionship, admiration, or benevolence.” Ok, but how do I know what I am feeling is love?

Do I know what I am telling myself and trying to convince myself of? I have caring and affection towards members of my family. I will accept that as love. I do not know if love is only a feeling or a living entity as well.

And as I close my eyes for the final time, will love stay with me? Or will love fade away as if it never existed? Who knows? I care. I love you.