October 4, 2010

The following post, I originally posted as a Facebook note after a recent thing/break-up (...it has been a month, but who is counting...). I did try to keep my bitter diatribes on romance to a minimum:


I have no idea why I started thinking about Sir Isaac Newton (... but who really knows why I think about the majority of things I think about), and I have come to the conclusion that Newton must have been well-versed in not only physics but in chemistry (...of the heart, that is, clever, I know I know). The following are his Laws of Motion, but for the sake of this note, the Laws of Love:

First Law: An object at rest will remain at rest unless acted on by an unbalanced force. An object in motion continues in motion with the same speed and in the same direction unless acted upon by an unbalanced force.
First Law Notas: I feel this is pretty self-explanatory. I thought the words "unbalanced force" were particularly interesting. I see the "unbalanced force" as love. Some of us are dead and "at rest" until it comes along, sweeps us off our feet, and makes us feel alive. It can be messy and hard (see the next two laws), or it can be passionate and untamed. It is such a strong emotion, and it has the power to tip our scales and catch us off guard. I couldn't have picked a better adjective than "unbalanced" if I had wanted to. Some of us are in motion, and I think perhaps that is even more dismal than being "at rest". It is the ones that are already in motion that don't realize they need a good ole' "unbalanced force" in their life. Complacency is a dangerous thing. The beautiful thing about love is that it can send a person traveling casually along at a leisurely pace to the moon and back with one little push (see the following two laws).

Second Law: Acceleration is produced when a force acts on a mass. The greater the mass the greater the amount of force needed to accelerate the object.
Second Law Notas: Perhaps, this is the trickiest law, and is hardest to contextually see as related to love... but it is. This my friend is when people get involved, and it gets sticky. You are no longer "at rest" or casually walking in motion. You have been pushed by this miraculously terrifying force. This is also where baggage comes in. We all have it, but some of us are just carrying a heavier load than others. This law states that the greater the mass (ie: you+your baggage) the greater the force (love) it will take to move you and your stupid baggage. We are really making it so much harder on love than it needs to be. It wants to send us to the moon and back, and we want to hold on to our crap and dig our heels in. We yell and curse at the wind, and it has to work so much harder to try and get us to move. Luckily, for those with a little junk in the trunk there is HOPE. There just has to be a force that is willing to push you as hard as needed until you budge (...but maybe you could be a dear and not make it so hard on them?). Conversely, it can be just dangerous to be as light as a feather (note: "can be"). A little love can send your featherlight-self tumbling through the wind with no assurance of where you will land. That is a scary scary thing, but I admire and envy the courage of you feathers. The question begs, is it better to be a feather or a lard ass?

Third Law: For every action there is an equal and opposite reaction.
Third Law Notas: This one is my favorite, but it is a whole lot more complicated than the first two (...probably why it is my favorite). This is the "relationship". You are no longer dead weight. You have been moved by that lovely uncontrollable force, and now what do you do? Whatever you want, unfortunately. You have been carried by the wings of love, and it is your time to act. You were lucky enough to get through the first two laws, but buckle your seatbelt because this one is the real ride. Every action you take causes a reaction in the one you love's life. You are now accountable for how you treat that person. Every action you take will cause a reaction in your loved one and vice versa. A relationship is give and take. I looked at an illustration for this one, and I am attaching the photo. You will see a girl with her feet planted on the ground pushing a basketball into the air. You will also see the same girl with roller skates on pushing the ball into the air while she moves backwards. There are a million different ways you could interpret this because love is complicated (...just like physics), but I am choosing this simple explanation. In a relationship, it is important to keep your feet grounded. If you lose that precious balance of give and take (friction), you inevitably will fall on your face. Don't take the ones you love for granted.



Newton was a wise man.

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5 comments:

  1. wow you put a lot of thought and made me think of the laws in a way that I've never thought of before.


    http://ificouldyouwould.blogspot.com/

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  2. Thank you very much! I really appreciate it!

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  3. I liked this on stumble

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