Debate on God, Love, Sex and the Meaning of Life

I'm reading this far pretty intense book.??. Nevermind. It raises a lot of questions in the meaning of my own life, so I can't really discount it. I recently read the chapter, "Sex: Is the Pursuit of Pleasure Our Only Purpose?" and I came across the passage below and it really hit me. It addresses the huge issue of staying "in love" with your partner. Some couples I've seen who are still "in love" after so many years still feels the same irresistible feelings they had for each other at the beginning of their relationship or at least that's what I had imagined, or maybe I was wrong. In keeping these feelings alive, maybe we were chasing after something that is meant to recede, allowing the other part of love to take control.

Though I don't agree with C.S. Lewis on many things, this is one thing that clicked for me. The mentality I had before reading this is one that I think many have: that if that fluttering, lusty, crazy can't-live-without-you-for-one-second feeling is gone, then you must not love your partner anymore and need to find someone that can make you feel that way again. This excerpt explains how wrong that reasoning is...

"The state of being in love is a significant, wonderful human experience. C.S. Lewis writes that this glorious state...helps make us generous and courageous...opens our eyes not only to the beauty of the beloved but to all beauty...and is the great conqueror of lust. But Lewis makes the startling statement that being in love does not last, nor is it intended to last. Being in love is a good thing...it is a noble feeling, but it is still a feeling...no feeling can be relied on to last to its full ntensity...feelings, come and go.

He explains that the "state of being in love" involves a kind of intensity and excitement that, if persisted, would interfere with sleep, work, and appetite. The intense feeling of being in love ought to change to a deeper, more comfortable and mature kind of love based on the will as well as on feeling. Ceasing to be "in love" need not mean ceasing to love...Love in this second sense -- love as distinct from "being in love" -- is not merely a feeling. It is a deep unity, maintained by the will and deliberately strengthened by habit... Lewis says a couple can retain this love even when each would easily, if they allowed themselves, be 'in love' with someone else. Lewis asserts that being in love brings people together and motivates them to promise fidelity; the quieter, deeper, more mature love helps them keep their promise".

I had someone said to me once: "Sometimes Love is not enough." I guess that's the part that lies deeper that have never emerged.