Falling in love or into depression?

In our modern world, we believe falling in love is an internal event. Two things come together inside me, we imagine, to create love.

First, I observe someone and have conscious thoughts about that person. I like the way he carries himself, she expresses herself, or the thoughtfulness of her actions. Second, I also encounter someone. Something chemical, something visceral, happens inside me. I am moved by this person – my heart skips a beat. Put these two together, and you have love!

Let’s compare that with the ancient world. Love is the domain and the plaything of the gods – Aphrodite, or Eros (aka Cupid). To fall in love is to have the gods look on you with favour. Love is now something that originates outside you, exists before you, and then lodges in you (via a metaphorical arrow) from an external source.

The gods decide who loves who, and what unions are a match made in the heavens. The gods also have the wisdom, authority, and capacity to bless us with and protect us from the abuses of love.

Back to us – we imagine depression to be the opposite of love, but similar. Depression is also something that emerges from within us. Some dark combination of feelings and thoughts spirals out of control and overtakes us. While the pretext or trigger for depression might be outside us, it is our response, conscious or otherwise, cerebral or chemical, that permits the entrance and extent of depression.

For the ancients, evil is first a real thing outside of us. It is located inside black bile and is manipulated by demons or witches (who sway the spirits) to enter us and overtake us. The source and the solution to evil and depression are external, though it does have manifest internal expressions.

So, where do you think love is, and where does depression come from?

In Romans 5:5 Paul tells us that “God’s love has been poured out into our hearts through the Holy Spirit”. Jesus prays for Peter that Satan will not sift him and teaches us to ask the Father to “lead us not into temptation, but deliver us from the evil one”. (Matt 6:13).

There is truth in both perspectives, but perhaps we need to learn more from the ancients. 

Rev David Rietveld