C.S. ReidTHERE IS perhaps no more abused word in the English language than the four-letter word LOVE.
One person "loves" saltfish and ackee, another "loves" football; one "loves" ice-cream, another "loves" sex! It is part of the poverty of the English language (or at least of our usage of it) that we apply the same word to describe so wide a range of emotional responses - or rather - to so wide a range of appetites.
In general usage 'love' is a consumer word. It describes people's desire to possess and enjoy for self that which is desired.
Desire is a very powerful driving force in the human psyche - as it is in all members of the animal kingdom.
It forces the creature to eat or die.
It forces the species to procreate or become extinct.
Herding instinct
Sexual desire therefore is an instinctive drive implanted in members of the animal kingdom which impels the male and female of the species to co-operate (and usually copulate!) in the process of reproducing its kind.
There is a further "herding instinct" which impels members of the animal kingdom to group together, to run and hunt in packs and co-operatively face the challenges of existence. In that co-operative effort, food and water are secured, the younger are taught and protected and the safety of the group is defended.
Division of labour is observed in the animal kingdom with some members of the herd tending the young, some hunting for food, some on the look-out to defend the herd against enemies, and so on.
Co-operation is part of the modus vivendi of the animal kingdom - the more obviously so, the higher up the ladder you get. The level of integration and co-operation observable among the "lower animals" is a source of amazement and admiration to humans who have studied the phenomenon.
Now the pride (or conceit!) of us humans is that we are of the "higher" animal kingdom. The lion may be the "king of beasts" but man is above the beasts. The lower animals are wholly dependent upon their given environment and when it proves inadequate for, or hostile to their survival they must migrate or perish.
The superiority of man is demonstrated by his application of reason and inventiveness to effect, co-operatively, change to make his environment more hospitable to the survival of the species.
We tame the mighty rivers.
We build defences and dykes against the sea.
We build to specifications to resist earthquakes and hurricanes.
We build machines that defy the forces of gravity and fly through the trackless atmosphere.
We venture into outer space, carrying our atmosphere on our backs. We have colonised the moon and created space stations.
Despite these magnificent achievements we have not mastered the art of living peaceably in families in the same house and we murder thousands of our species every week across the earth.
Boast as much as we like about our superiority - we've got a long way to go, baby.
Our Maker is still waiting on us to walk uprightly and stop being beastly. But perhaps I owe the beasts an apology: they know no such thing as mutually assured destruction (a.k.a. - Mad).
"What the world needs now is love sweet love" as the song goes!
Rev C.S. Reid is pastor of the Calvary Baptist Church, Montego Bay.
