Can you truly Love someone who doesn't Love you back?

This is an opinion piece so there is no scientific research is backing this, indeed, how could one successfully apply science to something as ethereal and omnipotent as Love. Much like the depths of the universe it is immeasurable and it is personal to each of us. That said, I'd like to explore whether true love can exist in a single direction. Can you Love someone who doesn't Love you back?

What is Love?

When we talk about Love we generally talk about it in quite a loose sense. “I love lemon drizzle cake” or “I love watching football.” But that isn't really Love is it. Love is a much deeper all encompassing 'thing' that pervades our thoughts, emotions and physical senses. Usually it is directed at a single person, family members and even a pets. Occasionally one can feel Love for groups of friends or social networks if they have a deep and unbreakable bond. Soldiers for example will often feel Love for their closest comrades and will risk death or even sacrifice themselves to save them. Love is a connection that makes us feel complete.

What about sex?

Sex is really just a physical imperative that human beings need to reproduce. People can have sex without Love, and they can Love without having sex. Sex can of course deepen and intensify Love between two partners that have an intimate physical relationship, but it is strongly driven by hormones. Without wanting to diminish the importance of sex in relationships, this highly charged energy may well create the foundations for longer term connectedness. An elderly couple that have been together for many years are likely to experience Love on a different level, beyond physical attraction and passion, their Love is more about living a single inseparable unit.

Infatuation and lost Love

This brings us to the question of whether one person can truly Love another person that does not Love them back. It is perhaps also one of the most tragic aspects of the human race.
If a person has strong passionate feelings about another person but those feelings are not reciprocated it can feel to that person like their heart has been torn out and they might never recover.
It's a sad and difficult circumstance to experience unrequited Love, but is it really Love? I would argue that, while it might feel like Love, especially when a person is young and hormonal, that it is more likely infatuation than it is true Love. While the same emotional and physical feelings might be experienced, how can it be true Love when there is no mutual connectedness. While I do not wish to downplay infatuation, it can be a powerful devotion, it is also not a mutually felt energy between one and another. This mutual feeling is really the key to Love. It is where the deeper meaning between individuals or groups is experienced. Loving somebody who Loves you back creates an unbreakable connection. Having said that, sometimes Love does break, and people can 'fall out of Love'.
Lost Love is humanities deepest tragedy. It is something that most of us will experience at some point as we lose parents and other family members. When one person leaves another because they have fallen out of Love, it is emotionally terribly traumatic. The bond of connectedness, the feeling of oneness is torn apart, and just like bereavement, a person has to get used to knowing that they will never experience the same companionship with their lost Love again. They may continue to feel a deep connectedness and Love, but with time they will get used to the fact and they will eventually move on. While they might never 'get over it', it is still possible to move on positively and Love again.

Love by you. Joan Armatrading

Do we have just one soul mate?

The depth of Love that we can feel for one person will lead us to believe that there is only one person out there for us. One person who was 'meant to be'. This theory that we have one soul mate, however, is unravelled when we consider that, spiritually, we are all connected. In reality we have many possible soul mates. There are many people with different experiences that could deeply connect with us on different levels. Our souls will find sustenance in different ways and to think that just one soul out there will make us feel complete is missing the chance to possibly Love again. If we have experienced lost Love or not yet found Love, be open minded to the fact that there are potentially millions of people out there that we might connect with. Focusing your attention on someone that cannot Love you back or someone who has fallen out of Love with you is like leading a life of tunnel vision. The truth is that we can move on and we can Love again.

A deeper Love

At higher levels of consciousness one can feel Love that goes beyond physical beings. Spiritual Love is a deep feeling of connectedness and a knowledge that we are not separate, we are all one. A sort of higher self Love if you like. It is a Love with 'that which is unseen'. Experiencing Love at this level may be akin to spiritual enlightenment. It is a realisation that we are no separate beings, we are a single connected consciousness. We should remember that the next time we feel a sense of loneliness in the world because we are not alone, sometimes it just feels that way.

“You yourself, as much as anyone in the entire universe, deserve your Love and affection” Buddha.

(Capitalisation of Love is intentional)