A relationship takes both involvement 1 and space; 2 closeness and distance, so that we are neither too close nor too far to fully see the other. These two opposites which can only be balanced by accepting what we desire so that we can express them. Like any feeling, love comes and goes, and only exists in the moments in which it is felt. Love is a connection between our consciousnesses, and as our consciousness changes all the time, so does who we can connect with. As we are all but consciousness and it can turn into anything, to truly love anyone, and therefore to love anything they can become, is to love everyone.
The only limit to how many people one can love is time, but there are many other things that take up time as well, such as work, and as work is increasingly automated there is more time for love, so that the limit on a relationship is now desire rather than time. Jealousy is desire caused by empathy, and can therefore keep the desire in a relationship high. Like all emotions, it's neither good nor bad in itself, and only causes suffering when it is repressed, but jealousy is so intense that it usually is, and when it isn't expressed, the suffering it causes can only be removed by removing the cause.
The only difference between open and closed relationships is not in quality 3 4 but in quantity: when either finds a better match (and who's first to be found is only up to chance), in the latter one of them has to end, while in the former both can last, so that open relationships are actually more lasting than closed relationships. The longer people live, the more this occurs, and once we are immortal, relationships will only last if open.
The only limit to how many people one can love is time, but there are many other things that take up time as well, such as work, and as work is increasingly automated there is more time for love, so that the limit on a relationship is now desire rather than time. Jealousy is desire caused by empathy, and can therefore keep the desire in a relationship high. Like all emotions, it's neither good nor bad in itself, and only causes suffering when it is repressed, but jealousy is so intense that it usually is, and when it isn't expressed, the suffering it causes can only be removed by removing the cause.
The only difference between open and closed relationships is not in quality 3 4 but in quantity: when either finds a better match (and who's first to be found is only up to chance), in the latter one of them has to end, while in the former both can last, so that open relationships are actually more lasting than closed relationships. The longer people live, the more this occurs, and once we are immortal, relationships will only last if open.
1 Gottman: Turn Towards instead of Away
2 Orbuch: The Early Years of Marriage Project
3 David Blasband M.A et al.: Sexual exclusivity versus openness in gay male couples
4 Journal of Homosexuality: Relationship Quality of Gay Men in Closed or Open Relationships
2 Orbuch: The Early Years of Marriage Project
3 David Blasband M.A et al.: Sexual exclusivity versus openness in gay male couples
4 Journal of Homosexuality: Relationship Quality of Gay Men in Closed or Open Relationships
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