Have you ever loved someone deeply, but found it difficult to determine how you are encouraging each other forward in life? Have you ever been in a relationship that caused you to wonder if love was enough?

For most of us, the word “love” can conjure images of couples wrapped blissfully in each others’ aura. Love is exhilarating, exhausting and can at times be oddly unexplainable. It is desirable; our existence depends on love happening.

But love requires a shared purpose.

The purpose of love and intimacy, in a purely evolutionary POV, is to create a relationship where procreation is possible. In this modern age, however, our duties extend beyond mere survival and replication. We find ourselves becoming increasingly dutiful towards causes for the greater good.

Without love, there would be such meaninglessness to many aspects of life. Indeed, creation of human life would depend solely on lust and animalistic urges. Love is that initial bonding agent, allowing us to move forward and comfortably discover more about the person we are falling for. These baser instincts that serve our pleasure fulfillment would be utterly empty without the existence of love.

As such, love can feel quite hollow when a shared purpose isn’t present. The relationship itself may feel comfortable, but the inspiration to move ambitiously towards a goal and actualize each other may be lost. Finding that person who ignites us to inspired action, to improve ourselves in order to improve the world through each others’ love may be a way to a fulfilling and meaningful relationship. I stand firmly behind the idea that “love is not enough” and that certain passions in life must be shared to truly blossom in, through and with love.

Love can also give rise to a shared ambition between two or more people who aren’t romantically involved. Nothing we have today could have been created without love and a purposeful drive to accomplish something. Our supreme emotion is the juice of any creation; the love of an idea that turns into a business project, the love we may have for our careers that turns into optimal performance, a love for music that can turn into learning an instrument and creating beautiful pieces.

Love resonates between people in the above examples; our business partners, our co-workers and our teachers. Recent research now supports the idea that we may have love for anyone, if only for small moments. Love is not reserved for couples wrapped up in it together—it is for anyone at anytime. Our view of love as being exclusive to those who are “in love” is counterproductive; love in any form allows us to create and make life easier for those around us.

Of course, an ideal scenario is to fall in love with someone who shares our purpose or is willing to complement and support us on our path, but as long as a purpose is shared in some way it then adds to the level of intimacy between two people. If we merge our love and our purpose with that of another we are building a momentum that accelerates us towards our goals.

I learned a lesson about relationships and the impact they can have on a person’s life purpose. I have recently come out of a relationship myself and am now certain it ended because our respective purposes in life weren’t aligned. In fact, they were (almost) complete opposites. It was through the break-up that I realized the importance of possessing a strong and clear view of one’s life purpose when becoming involved with another.

In this instance, my purpose eventually tore us apart as I had to move to another country; our conciliation placed all efforts to move forward with my plans on hold. Opposites may attract, but like attracts like for the long run. I now truly understand how important it is to have the correct understanding between two people when such weighty issues as life’s meaning and purpose are concerned.

All emotions stem from love and fear. Love is the creator; it brings about change and progress. We grow through any instance of love or positive emotion. The inert are usually at the mercy of fear and some form of its offspring: anxiety, worry, or panic. But when we feel purposeful, we are propelled forward, fueled by a healthy range of positive emotions. We are doing our bit for the community, society, or humanity at large. We need to feel love (or any positive emotions) to act purposefully.

Love elephant and want to go steady?

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Apprentice Editor: Andrea Charpentier/Editor: Jenna Penielle Lyons

Photos: Editor’s own