It is said that Love has no age. I think otherwise, I believe that love matures like good old French wine.
When you are young you don’t really know what Love is; A teenager expects to “be in Love”, just because this is the way it should happen. This expectation, along with the natural lack of experience, easily confuses love with desires. Both can of course occur at the same time and in the same person, but they are not identical.
Desire is linked to the Personality, the “mask” we wear, as the Latin word “Persona” indicates. Desire can be strong, but it is generally temporal. In a moment it will vanish as suddenly as it appeared. It is more a passion than a deep sentiment.
Love, on the other hand, needs time to be fine-tuned. It grows in time, as two – or more – souls learn to know each other. Time is needed for one to penetrate slowly into the intimacy of another person, and different and separate people to unite and become one.
Two people do not become One couple just because they decide to do so. Time is the Master, that slowly shapes us towards sharing the same goal, the same destiny.
But when exactly do we become “old”? Recently I saw in an Internet forum a post that said “If you fall and people laugh at you, it means that you are young. But if they run quickly to you, to help you stand… then you know that you are old”.
That may be true, sad but true. But this is in relation to the age of the “mask”, as mentioned above: the personality. What about the individual behind the mask? What about ourselves, not the mask we wear, not our appearance?
Is our age defined only by the number of years we have lived or should we consider a qualitative factor, not only the number? Maybe some of us are quick learners, and thus gain maturity and experience before others. Maybe some are “old souls” and some are “young souls”, as it is considered in the traditions that relate to “reincarnation”. Maybe some of us are just “born old”, in a young body but with the experience – not the memory – of many ancient lives. Who knows?
One thing is sure; an “old love” is worth more than a young one. As said before, like an old French wine. It allows discovering and tasting aromas you will never find in a younger bottle.
