Love Exists Within a Context

I was watching a rerun of an episode of Northern Exposure (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Northern_Exposure) some time back and the character that plays the radio DJ (I can’t remember his name) spoke about love between a man and a woman existing within a context.

It got me thinking…

Isn’t it true that romantic love between a man and a woman is confined to exist within a context ? By this, I mean that romantic love exists within a framework of strictly defined criteria. If all important criteria are fulfilled, the feeling of love continues and perhaps even flourishes. But if certain criteria are violated for any reason, the love that once blanketed every other emotion can potentially turn around and transform into instant contempt or even hate.

Examples can be found almost everywhere in daily life. Will you and can you forgive (completely) a cheating partner ? How about a drunkard husband or an abusive wife ? We all have our thresholds, limitations and tolerance levels before which love turns into hate.

Love refers to a deep, ineffable feeling of tenderly caring for another person (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Love). This feeling, strangely, is somehow linked to the set of criteria that we set for ourselves when defining the framework within which it exists. Violate the criteria, and this feeling vanishes into thin air or at the very least, diminishes in strength.

Therefore I propose that mankind redefine the meaning of romantic love as a contract.