LOVE

The street was different. The blind musician in the street was playing better than always. The showcases of the shops were no longer boring. The man wondered, I must have been lost on the way home, otherwise the streets can’t have changed this much during couple of hours. He looked at the street sign. It was the same name as always. He wondered: “I have never seen this much beauty in the world”.
He couldn’t believe it.
The man had fallen in love, and he didn’t know it.

The story you heard was written by Rasoul Younaan
Hi, my name is Aidin and this is Neek podcast.
In this episode we want to dare talk a little bit about love.

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In my opinion, the human kind have talked about love more than anything in the world. Artists have talked about loving your job, poets have talked about loving your partner, scientists have talked about loving the curiosity, psychologists have talked about loving yourself, bible has talked about loving thy neighbor and many other types of people have talked about many other kinds of love.
But a few days back, one of my friends told me a definition of love that was so interesting and sounded so accurate to me.
So I am just going to tell you that definition about love and I want to know if you guys find it as true as I thought it is.
But in order to understand it better, first I want to tell you guys an ancient story from the old times.
This story actually is about the first women that gods created.

The Pandora box
Zeus, the king of all gods, ordered Hephaestus to make a woman out of earth, and then all the other gods most come and give that woman their choosiest gifts. So that is how the first woman was made and sent to earth. Her name was Pandora. Pandora means “all-gifts” in Greek. But Pandora also had a box with herself that gods had given her. it was a mystery box and she was warned to never open the box. Once again, the battle between the rules and human’s curiosity began. Guess who won. Of course, the curiosity. As always. So, Pandora opened the box and all the misery and evil and bad things of the world came out of it and filled the earth. But there was also one more thing at the end of the box too; a little thing called hope.

The story above shows that the best weapon to fight the evil is hope.
Any way that’s not what we are talking about now.

_music_(honey this aint love love)

Now to tell you the definition that my friend gave me

She said: I think the thing that we know as love is a box like the one Pandora had. It is filled with bad feelings like jealousy, totalitarianism, sorrow, heart breaking, missing them, overthinking and many other annoying feelings. But it also has something pure and golden in its core. Something that makes life colorful. All of these feelings are packed in a box with a red ribbon around the box. And the box is called love.

You might think with yourself: So if it’s more pain than pleasure, why should I fall in love then?
Hafez Shirazi, the great Persian poet once said: someone told me that what can love do except making you sad?
and I answered what’s better than that.

I think what he means is that when you are in love, even the bad feelings like sadness can be pleasant too.
Vincent van Gogh, the great painter once said: “You will feel love the most when your loved one is sick in bed, and you are sitting beside them, without a single dollar in your pocket.
Of course love is not that simple and people have been trying to define it for as long as humans exist.
And it also can be defined differently depending on the subject. But it was one of the definitions that I really liked.
If you know any other definitions that you like, let me know.
But please, for the love of god, don’t be cheesy.
Hope you enjoyed!

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Vocabularies:

1. Showcases
   • Meaning: A glass container used for displaying items in a store or museum.
   • Farsi Equivalent: ویترین
2. Curiosity
   • Meaning: A strong desire to know or learn something.
   • Farsi Equivalent: کنجکاوی
3. Ancient
   • Meaning: Belonging to the very distant past.
   • Farsi Equivalent: باستانی
4. Pandora Box
   • Meaning: A source of great and unexpected troubles.
   • Farsi Equivalent: جعبه پاندورا
5. Jealousy
   • Meaning: Feeling or showing an envious resentment of someone or their achievements.
   • Farsi Equivalent: حسادت
6. Totalitarianism
   • Meaning: Absolute control by the state or a governing branch.
   • Farsi Equivalent: تمامیت خواهی
7. Misery
   • Meaning: A state or feeling of great distress or discomfort.
   • Farsi Equivalent: بدبختی
8. Cheesy
   • Meaning: Overly sentimental or clichéd; trite.
   • Farsi Equivalent: کلیشه‌ای
9. Pleasure

Definition: A feeling of happiness, satisfaction, or enjoyment derived from a particular experience or event.

Example: Listening to music is a great pleasure for many people.

Farsi Equivalent  لذت

1. Sorrow

Definition: A feeling of deep distress or sadness caused by loss or disappointment.

Example: She expressed her sorrow over her grandfather’s passing.

Farsi Equivalent: اندوه

Related Paragraph: Throughout history, human beings have been drawn to the notion of love, its depths, its complications, and its beauty. It is this emotion that has driven poets to pen their most profound works, artists to paint their most touching pieces, and individuals to search for its true meaning. Yet, love remains an enigma, a Pandora’s box filled with a plethora of feelings and experiences. It’s an emotion that has the power to bring intense joy but can also plunge one into deep despair. Despite its complexities, love remains the most sought-after feeling, for in its pursuit, we find our truest selves.

Discussion Questions:

1. What does love mean to you personally?
2. Do you agree with the comparison of love to Pandora’s box? Why or why not?
3. How does culture influence our understanding of love?
4. Why do you think love is such a common theme in art and literature?
5. How can love be both a source of happiness and pain?
6. Do you believe in the idea of a ‘soulmate’?
7. What role does love play in our overall well-being?
8. Why do you think many songs, movies, and books focus on the pain or heartbreak of love?
9. How do different cultures express and celebrate love?

• Can love be measured or quantified in any way?