Loving and Liking: Anomalies and Compulsions

As I sit here in my happy place, a quiet little park in the middle of Mumbai, I was thinking to myself, “ Is liking someone very dearly the same as loving them?”

That thought got to me and I observed that although you might love someone dearly, is it faintly possible that you dont like them as a person?

I am a 40 year old entrepreneur working for my father’s company. It’s after so many years of self thought and awareness, that one realizes that you don’t see eye to eye. In fact your ideologies are completely different.

That makes to you resentful that the bond of liking a person is very thin compared to the compulsion of a loving feeling that you have for your father. I mean, biologically we are connected, so genes take over and you feel the love for him. Obviously it’s the same from his perspective, I’m sure. I am a difficult person in that sense. But i acknowledge that and I constantly want to evolve to just be a better person. But somehow in one way or the other, self growth always takes a back seat. This is what fuels the fire of resentment as well.

Moreover, the feeling that no relationship is greater than the one with your parents has already created a mental block in your mind that, ‘No you can’t think of not liking who they are’. But is it right? Is it okay to curb your feelings and always be under the shadow of ‘Love and it’s complusions’.

This kind of feeling had come to me once before with my son and I turned around and said, ‘Listen, WE HAVE TO LOVE EACH OTHER. But there is no reason that we have to like each other as human beings! If we don’t see eye to eye, it’s fine. Dont feel a thing about it.’

So, what is to love and what is to like dearly. Are they the same?

I have a very complex argument about these two terms in my mind. I’m sure you do as well!

🍻