In one of China's greatest classical novels, Dream of the Red Chamber, love is presented as a state of foolishness.
A young man falls in love with a beautiful woman who tricks and makes a fool of him.
This results in conflicting emotions of love and hate which tear him apart.
To cure him, a priest gives him a magic mirror.
The priest tells him to look into the reverse side of the mirror, but never to look in the front side.
When the young man looks into the mirror, he doesn't like what he sees, so he looks into the forbidden side, the front side.
There he sees the lovely image of his love, who invites him into the mirror to be with her.
He does this several times until he is finally dragged away in chains.
He dies while looking into the mirror.
Perhaps the point of the story is that all such attachments should be avoided.
A famous French writer, Simone de Beauvoir has another point of view.
For her, love is the desire to integrate with another, like in a great friendship.
However, it is important that lovers not become too dependent on the other person.
Becoming dependent on another person can lead to boredom or power games.
Lovers should support each other in discovering themselves and developing their potentials.
In this way, romantic love can enrich the world.
Falling in love can be exciting and frightening.
Maybe we lose ourselves and maybe we find ourselves.
Will you dare to find out?
(He enters the mirror to be with his love and satisfy his desires.)
