I recall something (not totally inline) when I went through your post, but worth mentioning and is said by one of the GREAT person on earth – just like Osho he has many followers ;o)

- Joey performing Monica n Chandlers wedding ceremony.

We are gathered here today on this joyous occasion to celebrate the special love that Monica and Chandler share. It is a love based on giving and receiving. As well as having and sharing. And the love that they give and have is shared and received. And through this having and giving and sharing and receiving. We too can share and love and have and receive

Rikki,
Your argument of instinct versus rationality is flawed. First let me clear that I did not claim that it was rationality alone that pulled us out of the primitive. It was the thinking mind. You cannot attribute that to instinct. For Hitler’s actions as well as Newton’s actions were backed by instinct. Instinct cannot distinguish between the two. Yet we know that those two actions are poles apart.

As far as not loving for a reason goes… why aren’t you in love with every person you meet? Why do you select a few. The selection is because you look for some qualities (knowingly or unknowingly) in that person. If a person is devoid of all the qualities you uphold, you wont love that person, would you?

have opposed the same barter system in my blog too, “ek paimana pyaar ka”…”http://bhen-de-takke.blogspot.com/”

pappu,
teri ganit to ab kya kahen…masha-allah !!!
anyways, tell me what is more pristine of sanity or insanity ?? Obviously, the answer is insanity as a lunatic person doesn’t have the power to think rationally and hence devoid of telling lies and being hypocrite…..and thats where love grooms…..Be MAD IN LOVE and if you have not in love then “who knows when the lightning could strike”

Human life has reached a civilized (or lets call it modern) state because of intelligent men who chose to think. We would have still been in caves and jungles, if existing at all, had it not been for the rational and thinking mind. A series of scientific and industrial breakthroughs came only because of it. That is why I can have this conversation with you today.

Humans needed to survive. We were not armed with any physical weapon. The mind is our only weapon. Our tool for survival. Without using it, we would have perished long ago. And using the mind implies using it rationally. With reason as the only parameter. So for me, the statement by Einstein was shocking.

You said that u may love a criminal or an idiot. But would one do so because he is a criminal and because he is an idiot? Simply because there is something lacking in him? I suppose not. You have said it yourself that the reason is because he cares (for u). Then that is the quality you uphold. Not the ones he lacks. So it is perfectly possible to love a criminal and an idiot if he possess some quality of value. Thats my argument. And of course you would want to make sure he stops his criminal activities or learns a few things simply because it is in your (and his) rational self interest. Him getting arrested will not be good for either of you. So u love him because he cares and u want him to stop his criminal activities. All follows from reason and rational self interest.

Again, I would like to emphasize that I have not “defined” love using rationality, but simply used rationality as an underlying framework to understand our “actions” when in love. And have discussed “expectations” as one such action.