Of Lust and Love

One day a man turned to his companion and said:

“Friend, you have been like a brother to me for almost my entire life. We tell each other everything and are as close as two friends can be. But in all this time, I do not think I have ever seen you truly happy.”

The other looked at him with a blank expression and, lifting his hands palm-up, replied:

“What does it mean to be truly happy? I have lived out my entire life as I have seen fit, and I have enjoyed it all. Is that not happiness?”

“Yes, it is true that you have always done as you please, but what have you to show for it? You have thrown away any chance at success in life to pursue your petty interests. What of your future? How will you provide for yourself? How will you provide for a family?

The man simply shook his head, a disappointed expression on his face.

“You say I have thrown away success? You say I will never be truly happy? This existence is but a mere instant in the passage of time. Is it wrong for me to squeeze what pleasure I can from it while I have the chance? We are all but specks on a speck in the sea of countless specks that is the universe. Why should I plan for the future, when it is not promised to me? It is promised to no one. Rather, I would live for today, everyday.”

“But what of love, my friend? How can one hope to ever love and have a family if you make no plans for the future?”

At this, the man shocked his friend with a bout of biting laughter.

“You fool! Love is such a silly thing. It is nothing more than a fleeting lie. Rather, give me lust, for at least I know that to be true. We were created to lust, not to love. It is simply the nature of humanity, and yet we combat it with religion and morality. Therefore, when someone lusts after me, they must be sincere, for why would one affirm something we have branded so taboo, if it were nought but a lie? No, my friend, love is the lie. It is no more real than time or God.”

“So now you say you believe in neither time nor God!? How can you speak such fallacy?”

“Time is but a construct that we as humans have created for our convenience. Were we not here, time would not exist. Are you really so foolish as to believe that without us, the universe would cease to be?”

By this point, his friend had lost his temper.

“And God? What of Him? How can you say there is no God when we stand here now? We must have been created somehow!”

“To that I would simply say; evolution.”

“And from where did these beings from which we evolved come?”

“Still lesser beings. And then from lesser, and so on until the dawn of life. And before life, we were chemicals. And before that, other chemicals, and so on until forever!”

“But then, my friend, let me ask you one last question. From where did that original bit of matter you surely speak of come?”

Turning, he said over his shoulder with a smirk on his face:

“The same place as your God, I suppose.”

-Brian