ABSTRACT
Focusing in on love, this chapter considers current western rules about how love should work, particularly the idea of falling in love with ‘The One’ who will ‘complete us’ and be with us ‘forever’. The chapter explores how romantic love is generally prioritized over other forms of love, the kinds of relationship patterns this can result in, and how these can actually hurt us, and other people. Considering alternatives to this way of understanding love, the chapter explores how people have done love and relationships very differently over time, and how romantic marriage is a pretty new invention. The chapter also considers different ways of doing love and relationships across cultures. Turning to embracing uncertainty, the chapter examines how metaphors around falling in love, and love making us crazy, mean that we experience love in certain ways. What would a more conscious, intentional approach to love look like? And how might we equalize the way we treat different forms of love?
