Love And Meaning In Irving Singer's The Pursuit Of Love

1219 Words5 Pages

In the chapter “Love and Meaning” from Irving Singer’s book “The Pursuit of Love”, Singer argues that Love is the true meaning to the human existence. Certain elements of Singer’s work can be shown through bonds created by individuals, and how love is a trait passed on through motherly bonds. Since love is an aspect of human life that essentially can be thought of as the meaning or foundation of human existence, Singer believes a life without love, is one without meaning. In this paper, I will addressing Singers point of view on how love is the true meaning of life through human relationships, personal bonding, and the human need for love. In this essay, I will also be addressing Singer’s point of view on what it means to live a meaningless …show more content…

According to Singer, to live a meaningful life is to live a life full of love. But what does it mean to live a meaningless life, and to live a life without a root cause of suffering? For Singer, a meaningless means to give up on the search for this certain meaning. By not searching for love, and individual is alone, feeling isolated from the rest of humanity. A life without meaning is one without those certain bonds developed with individuals, instead is a life of solitude. A feeling of loneliness, is caused by the search of an apparent “perfect love”. Singer states that this type of so called “perfect love does not exist on earth” (Singer, 13), so those striving for that love will never attain it. Striving for this love causes a social isolation from discovering the meaning of life. By isolating the bonds that have the potential of being created, we are blocking human natures intrigue to answer the question of the meaning of life, in relation to love or not. No other love that is received by the individual striving for this type of love loses value, and justifies how the true underlying meaning of love in life cannot be discovered. Love is not perfect, nevertheless, love can be thought of as perfect to an