The sun never says to the earth "you owe me".
Look what happens with a Love like that!
It lights the whole Sky. (Hafiz)
I came across this quote while researching the meaning of love. I always thought that “love” was misinterpreted between Peyton and Lucas. I say that because I don’t see the selfless, compassionate and passionate love described in that verse in Leyton. But I always have with Brooke and Lucas. So to dig deeper I started to look into the definitions of love, and this is what I found. At the end of it all it only reaffirms my belief in Brucas, and I think the quote really represents Brucas beautifully.
“Love: represents a range of emotions and experiences related to the senses of affection and sexual attraction. The word love can refer to a variety of different feelings, states, and attitudes, ranging from generic pleasure to intense interpersonal attraction. This diversity of meanings, combined with the complexity of the feelings involved, makes love unusually difficult to consistently define, even compared to other emotional states. As an abstract concept love usually refers to a strong, ineffable feeling towards another person. Even this limited conception of love, however, encompasses a wealth of different feelings, from the passionate desire and intimacy of romantic love to the nonsexual. Love in its various forms acts as a major facilitator of interpersonal relationships and, owing to its central psychological importance, is one of the most common themes in the creative arts.”
In other words, you can love many of things, in many different ways. I believe Lucas has loved many women in his life. Brooke, Peyton, and Lindsey are the main three he has been romantically linked with, but he has loved these very same women in various contexts throughout the show. His true love is evidenced not in what he has written or even said (because we all know the man is a bit wishy washy in that department) but in what he does, and how he acts around the women he loves. IMO his actions with Brooke are more genuine than with any of the other women. There is just an ease to them that is portrayed beutifully by Chad and Sophia which is unpresedented in comparison to Leyton, Lincus.
“Interpersonal love refers to love between human beings. It is a more potent sentiment than a simple liking for another. Unrequited love refers to those feelings of love which are not reciprocated.” (Peyton’s love for Lucas perhaps?)
“Psychology depicts love as a cognitive and social phenomenon. Psychologist Robert Sternberg formulated a triangular theory of love and argued that love has three different components: intimacy, commitment, and passion.
1. Intimacy is a form in which two people share confidences and various details of their personal lives. Intimacy is usually shown in friendships and romantic love affairs.
2. Commitment, on the other hand, is the expectation that the relationship is permanent.
3. Passion, sexual attraction is shown in infatuation as well as romantic love.
***All forms of love are viewed as varying combinations of these three components.***
However, romantic love, must encompass all three. Leyton has only accomplished 2 of the 3 aspects, and the 2 they do share are not convincing. Intimacy, which they undoubtebly achieved in S1 was ignited by their similarities, in S2 & S3 in their friendship, and in S4 in their love affair. But as of S5 they have very little intimacy, and 3 years of seperation that untimatly defined the characters into where they are now, and a candid “I hate you” from Lucas to Peyton. I believe that their sexual attraction is based exclusivly on infatuation. Point being, they only yearn for each other, if at all, when they are not together. When Lucas visits Peyton in LA to propose, there is not even the slightest hint of sexual tension. Lastly, Leyton has zero commitment to each other. The only permanent fixture in their relationship is angst…and denial. Brucas on the other hand always have a bit of sexual tension. It’s subtle when it needs to be as well as explosive. They have shared an immense amount of intimacy through out the 5 seasons, but most noteably in S5 as matured adults they share new intimacies only to one another. And at this point I think its clear that they have a commitment to each other. It is not romantic at this point, but stable and consistant through the years. They will always love and be there for each other.
“Scott Peck, whose works in the field of applied psychology explored the definitions of love and evil, maintains that love is a combination of the "concern for the spiritual growth of another", and simple narcissism. In combination, love is an activity, not simply a feeling.”
Leyton disregards each others spiritual growth, wheras with Brucas is an undeniable fixture of their relationship. Brooke and Lucas both have great concern for the growth of one another. This is paramount in their characters evolution. Brooke and Lucas are now better people as a result of that love. They inspired each other to reach their dreams. Leyton simply holds no balance. Their love is more narcissistic, and selfish. They are almost too alike that they hold each other back. I have seen very little spiritual growth in Peyton as a result of Lucas. Much of the little growth Peyton has done were results of Jake, Ellie, etc.
“The traditional psychological view sees love as being a combination of companionate love and passionate love. Passionate love is intense longing, and is often accompanied by physiological arousal (shortness of breath, rapid heart rate). Companionate love is affection and a feeling of intimacy not accompanied by physiological arousal.”
Brucas has a combination of the two. While their romantic relationship was more passionate than companionate it was never one sided. Additionally, when they are not romantically linked they are still affectionate towards one another. Leyton though, lacks passion as a romantic couple. They long for each other with the best of em, but when it matters their great love is confused and fizzles. Moreover, thier more passionate moments are when they are not together as a couple, mainly when Lucas is in another relationship.
Okay…that’s just a little bit of my feeling on how love, in the romantic sense, clearly fails to define Leyton. Let me know what you think.
