Raimond Gaita - Making Me Fall in Love with Love.

As a group of us sat together amongst the free food waiting to hear what Gaita had to say, I must admit I had no idea what to expect. I wasn't sure whether he would be discussing for the entire time his iconic novel "Romulus, My Father" or perhaps other things as well. As he began to speak right up until the end I was captivated by the ideas he spoke on. 

He read from his essay titled "Love and Learning" and spoke about the people who have influenced him and his ideas of love and humanity and enthusiasm. He discussed a teacher of his, describing him as an eccentric and passionate man who showed a true love for Bach. He also mentioned a friend of his father who used to tell stories of his village and how he told them with such love and admiration. Gaita continued by bringing up his two daughters and the Human Rights Groups they are participating in and how they give them hope. 

But overall the pieces which really stuck with me were when he was responding to a comment from another participant, who claimed that a lot of people spend too much time defining what love isn't and not enough on what love is. That is when Gaita replied with "People shouldn't define what love is or isn't, they should just love." He continues with discussing how love never forces or gives consent to force, people just love. And it's that love with it's complexity and depth that just wishes to be celebrated.

Gaita spoke on how love, justice and pity are forms of understanding one another and that the full reality of another human is visible to love. The quality of attention his teacher gave to things that he loved were able to allow Gaita to value those things and bring in a sense of trust with his teacher. He spoke on love and humanity and how humanity is never fixed or secure but it is something we must all rise to.

He talked about the newer generations not being as protected from the evils of the world, yet having this knowledge could help. It's not about whether or not the good outweighs the evil as long as there is good.

All of the points he made on love and the good in the world were thoughts of purity and something that is truly lacking in everyone's mindset. Love is a beautiful thing and I'm happy to have it in many parts of my life. Hearing how he spoke about love and admiration even aided in me falling more in love with people and things I enjoy doing. 

If you haven't read or seen the film "Romulus, My Father" I would suggest you have a look into it.