Theoretical Discourse of the Correlation between Love and the Existential Meaning of Life

Abstract

Human beings have the capability for love. However, it requires more than the ability to obtain love and to be loved. It is crucial to align this ability with an awareness of this sentiment’s roots and impact. In childhood, children tend to be selfcentered, but for healthy development, it is better for an individual to have the ability confine this character – when needed – as one grows up. The current research aims to draw and discuss the theoretical framework of the correlation between love and the existential meaning of life. The approach followed was an analytical deductive approach that combines Islamaic literature and Western literature. The importance of research stems from the need to have a meaning that helps individuals to cope with rapid, sometimes painful, and severe fluctuations of life. During the current pandemic, an existential question has aroused and started this paper: What is in life that we want to live for? It is partially derived from Frankl’s Man’s search for meaning. The author concludes that each of us carries a meaning that helps us emanate from and face life’s difficulties based on it; however, researcher wondered about the formation of this meaning. Findings of this paper revolve around love as a fundamental pillar in humans’ life and as a substantial experience that links an individual to the core of humanity and extracts the best out of the individual. Moreover, jurists of the Islamic world discuss love as an emotion that drives a person to live the experience of existence and consider it that the basis of actualizing Servitude “Ubudiyyah” relies on love that is the mandate of every Muslim.