I believe true love exists,though not in the form we are led to believe it does. I don't, however, believe in soulmates or unconditional love (unless you are perhaps talking about a parent/child connection)
There are always conditions to love. Whether it be bad hygiene, cheating or finding out that your partner is a secret serial killer. Everbody has a limit of which they will say 'no more'. In a lucky situation, perhaps it will never be discovered what that limit is but I still believe it is there.
The idea of soulmates is essentially tragic, imo. If you never meet your soulmate, are you destined to forever be unfulfilled? What if your soulmate dies young, or you never meet them? It's depressing to think that we need one particular person before we feel complete or whole.
I follow Darwin's theory. We are animals. Though more refined and cultured, we are still biological creatures. The difference between us and wild animals is that we have developed an understanding of the world around us. We thrive on answers and so we have discovered and developed intelligence that allows us to make conscious choices.
There are stories of people who without any attraction between them, have started friendships that have developed into a romantic relationship.
The question isn't easily answered because no two people are the same. To say there is such a thing as 'true love' sets up an ideal that is entirely singular to me. What I require from a partner might make another person question my sanity, (or humanity
) though another might completely agree and understand my desires.
So while I believe that true love exists, I think it is a product of the choices we make rather than something, or someone, that is placed in our lives. To me, true love takes many forms. The love I feel for my mother/sister/brothers/best friend is true so I have to question why such emphasis is placed upon romantic love?
Is it because we are filled with ideas of completion, of finding our purpose when we meet 'the one', or is it because our purpose is soley to reproduce? It's the nature vs nuture debate in an entirely different form.
If we never had books and stories of true love, then would we still, as a society, place so much value on it? But it can be asked that if true love doesn't exist, what motivations did those authors, artists, playwrites have in the first place?
In my opinion, true love is something that must be crafted and worked for and we earn it by learning to develop patience, communication, understanding, compassion. Some do this with one partner, others have to kiss a few frogs (
) but overall, I think that to gain a love that can be defined as true, takes a lot of years and hard work.