THE THINGS WE DO FOR LOVE
A feature of love that gives it its gravitas is the promise of commitment. You promise to be present in another person’s life through their ups and downs. It involves that risk of love that Alain Badiou talks about. “inasmuch as love is a pleasure almost everyone is looking for, the thing that gives meaning and intensity to almost everyone’s life, I am convinced that love cannot be a gift given on the basis of a complete lack of risk.’ (Badiou 2012, 6-7). In religion, love and commitment involves sacrificing simple pleasures and taking risks. A monk would have to sacrifice a life of socialising and creating a family for a life of solitude. Every monk commits their lives to the...
