The Sum of All Spiritual Laws

Having to suffer two Liverpool defeats in one week is too much for me to bear. Sometimes I think my irrational attachment to the Reds is something that I purposely inflict on myself so that I can experience a bit of emotional excitement every weekend.

Maybe we all need a bit of drama in our lives simply to feel alive. Being attached to the outcome of a soccer match is a kind of harmless suffering. Yes, it can be very painful at times when your favourite team is defeated, but you are also comforted by the fact that, at the end of the day, it's only a game and no one died because of it. (Bill Shankly will certainly not agree with that).

When your favourite team does triumph in a major tournament, the joy you feel is beyond description. You earned the right to feel so because you've gone through the whole emotional journey together with them. Joy can only be earned through suffering.

That's why romantic relationships are usually turbulent. Lovers are addicted to the emotional high they get whenever they feel that they are receiving all the love and attention from their partners. But when such feelings wane--as all emotions do--they inadvertently create a drama by introducing an emotional trough ("you don't have time for me anymore"), so that an equivalent crest can be created ("Of course I do, honey. You are the most important thing in my life") . That's why you see lovers quarelling and making up all the time. It's what lovers do.
Some of us are addicted to love--or rather to the process of falling in love. If we are not in a relationship with someone, we feel that life is boring. Life is meaningless.

How do we overcome this feeling of emptiness and restlessness? And loneliness?

If you want drama, go watch a soccer match. If you need companionship, go get a dog.
Isn't love important? Yes. But what is love? Take a lesson from Gurudeva.