Love and Money
A delightful article from the 11 June 1994 edition of the New York Times says as Nobel laureate Octavio Paz neared 80, his thoughts turned to love. Perhaps because, as Paz said, “And you cannot talk about love without talking about its complement, death.” Knowing that, I feel less ridiculous for thinking of love at 52 — though the distance between 52 and 80 seems great (according to my father, it’s the blink of an eye).
At 18, love and sex were synonymous. At 27, love broadened to include friendship. At 43, companionship outweighed sex as its principle interest. At 52, it is ethereal, a total mystery. Never has it appeared more elusive or fleeting.
And never has it been more the tool of commerce. I am nauseated by eHarmony.com. (Google it, if interested. I’ll not sully these lines with a link.) And equating diamonds with love is still wicked, even if the majority of the world’s stones are conflict free. Cosmetics have nothing to do with love, and your dog won’t love you any more for feeding him Science Diet instead of Iams.
As Octavio Paz says, “Our democratic capitalist society has converted Eros into an employee of Mammon. Profit, gain and the extraordinary materialism of our society are weakening the human condition. So my book about love is a defense of the individual.”
I’ll have to ferret out The Double Flame: Love and Eroticism and devote some time to it. Call it a New Year’s resolution.
In the meantime, “No More Clichés” and “January First” briefly satisfy my hunger for Paz’s remarkable poetry.
Love and Money has 1 response
Kathy says:
31 December 2007 at 8:52 pm
Hey Gibby, hope your 2008 is great. Buh-bye 2007, huh? Happy New Year! x0x0x0 Kathy
