Free Love

Since the days of prehistoric times when means of communication was relegated to drawings on cavernous walls, love was expressed through dowries being exchanged, and marriages were the joining of two families rather than solely two souls they have said nothing in this world is free. They said. They said one couldn’t receive without first giving. They said one of life’s biggest joys was when two individuals cleaved to each other and created bliss. Yet, as of late, this age-old theorem has been threatened. As revolutionaries did with the Iron Curtain, new-age thinkers have dismantled the seemingly indestructible and indomitable walls of what love is supposed to look, taste, feel, sound, and be like.

It is as if the word ‘monogamy’ has been eradicated from our consciousness. Now, words such as polyamorous abound and people wholly dedicate themselves to multiple partners. Polyamory is the philosophical and emotional state of being in love or romantically involved with more than one person at a time. In layman’s terms, it is the loving and giving totally of one’s self to various partners without restriction or reservation. This lifestyle is meant to be freeing, unquestioning, and satisfying. More specifically, it is meant to answer the innate, dare I say animalistic, desire of all humans to be unrestrained and unbridled with their sexual appetite.

I cannot help but conjecture what Sigmund Freud would say about this Movement. Would he declare that humans are finally obeying the clandestine desires of their Id, or would he proclaim that we have perhaps gone too far in our quest for sexual freedom?

Is it truly our innate desires finally being heard and answered or is it a stronger pull for instant gratification on a more primal level? Followers of this movement claim that being free is what we all yearn for and they are the brave ones who have answered that call. My question is simply this: is this Free Love Movement truly the answer to our primal needs or is it, more sadly, a reaction to our deepest fear: commitment.