You know what love feels like. You could probably give a good explanation of how it makes you feel. But could you explain it to someone who has never felt it? Do you even convince yourself your own explanation truly captures the essence of love? Love is an enigma and that’s why it is impossible to explain and here are more reasons:
Love is impossible to explain because you are only ever on one side of it. Sure you are familiar with the feeling of loving another, but in a weird way you will never fully be able to understand what it is like when somebody loves you. All the adjectives in the world can't match the real emotions, and that's what makes it such as incredible mystery.
We all know that no matter how hard we try, we cannot choose who we fall in love with! If a certain set of standard criteria was there to be checked off, the process would be a lot easier, but the truth is there is no real reason for loving who we love, apart from the fact that, well, cupid’s metaphorical arrow is struck!
In terms of nature, it's clear that humans, much like animals, are drawn together in order to procreate and further the species. But what nature cannot explain is where love develops and enters in to the equation. All the hard science in the world couldn't give a valid reason for loving someone who doesn't love you back, or vice versa!
The power of love is so great and inexplicable that it very often overrides our natural instinct to tell the truth. It could be a fib as small as ensuring your friend that her ugly dress is beautiful or as big as hiding a pet’s death from a child, but whatever the matter, the great mysterious power of love forces us to lie to protect the ones we care about.
Being in love is almost like trying to recall a dream; the harder you try the less clear you seem to become! In a way, this could be down to the fact that we as humans, well, love the idea of love! Trying to confine to simple terms something so wonderful doesn't seem right.
Another added inexplicable bonus to love is the way that it makes you much braver in the face of trouble. What makes mothers strong enough to lift cars and boyfriends stupid enough to challenge an unwanted harasser to a bar fight? Love, it makes us giddy and boosts our adrenaline.
One wonderful and mysterious element of love is the fact that it transcends species and bonds humans to animals. Those of us who are cat, dog and any other household pet owners will know that the love and affection between you and your pet is real, that in an inexplicable way love has occurred on both sides and brought you together through the species barrier.
Love is also so hard to define because it is not exclusive to any one person and it never has, or ever had, a definitive start or end point. Love is a universally shared experience that breaks barriers and boundaries that exists through time, through space, through everything. There are not many other things that can boast that!
If it were not for the inexplicable presence and capacity for love within us, it would be fair to argue that the human race would have destroyed itself by now. Our overall innate need to care for and look after one another remains the basis of society, after all, all you need is love!
Do you now understand love better? I’m happy to leave it as something magical that is unexplained.