Looking for Love Through the Celts

Looking for a clear description of love? This is something that is not so openly demonstrated.

There is no one symbol that captures the idea of love to the Celts. Many people see a shape like a heart and know that it represents love and care. But, that symbol was not really a big part of Celtic history. I imagine that the Celts wanted a way to express their love for other things or maybe even people. Yet, it is not too obvious how they could accomplish this and reasons as to why that was the case.

In an ancient culture like that of the Celts, an emotion or feeling like love was not something that was meant to be overtly known. Romanticism and nostalgia as far as signalling the one we longed for was not a socially accepted practice until centuries down the line. Even today, many people in the world are still quite uncomfortable admitting their feelings of love and devotion towards another person or thing.

Yet, when you look around, it is easy to see people demonstrating their love for their pets rather openly or even towards their material possessions. Not everyone will show that they care for another person or idea openly though. Why is that?

The same reasons that hold people back today are quite similar to the excuses that held people back centuries ago. Fear and pride oftentimes restrain us from showing our innermost feelings. Even some of us who try hard to hide an emotion as strong as love, can still be picked out of a crowd. If it is so easy for people to discern this, then why are we so afraid of admitting it?

Maybe most people are afraid because they are scared of some sort of repercussion. To love another person makes us open and vulnerable to be hurt. As much as it is wonderful to feel love, it is doubly as painful to have that concern for another rejected or disappointed. It is a risk. Yet, many people will take that risk in spite of everything.

These people might think that it is alright to feel confident in their feelings whether or not they are ever returned. Perhaps, that is not the point of loving someone or something. If the only bonus of ever loving someone was realized only if they returned the favor, then the world would be a much different place.

Many times we feel love for something to not have the feelings returned. And although it is painful, it is also very gratifying to be so connected to true motives. At the end of the day, I think it is quite alright to love something that doesn’t necessarily love you back. I do not think that is the point of love after all. Perhaps, the Celts knew this. Maybe they knew that to love something meant to hold that feeling despite the affections of the object receiving that love.