Love is Lust

Originally published in PanelXPanel #8. In what I can only assume to be his sense of humor, Hassan decided to rename the entry "The Power of Love."

In Nameless, the second part of his “Grant Morrison Is Garbage, And Here’s Why” trilogy, Grant Morrison posits one simple question: What is Human? This being Morrison’s exploration into mystical nihilism, he provides us with many unsatisfactory answers: the works of art that come out of human suffering; like a rat being experimented upon in a weapons testing lab; “An overpopulated, under educated, shithole in the throes of mass extinctions.” But one answer it doesn’t go for directly is love.

There is the sensible opinion that love is a trite answer seen in many a Hallmark movie. And the titular Nameless seems incapable of being in a healthy relationship, be it sexual or otherwise, precisely because of his status as a rock star magician. But this answer belies the truth at the crux of it: love isn’t just who we do or don’t want to sleep with. It’s the people we choose to be around for as long as we can. The ones we care for. “What is Human?” It’s our relationships with one another. Which is all well and good, but there are some holes in there.

For instance, love is also a motivation for action. As such, one can do many a cruel thing out of love. For instance, suppose a woman’s husband has been found guilty of treason and is to be executed before their people. Two guards and a publicist are sent to retrieve him from his home so that the execution may take place. The man is does not put up a struggle when the guards come to take him to the executioner’s block. He is guilty of this crime, and she knows it. Nonetheless, she brutally murders the two guards and the publicist, before declaring her intent to violently tear down the government. She does this out of love for her guilty husband.

Regardless of the necessity of tearing down the government, are her actions in freeing her husband a sign that humanity is good. This is specifically in regards to the death of the publicist. Though his character was dubious at best, does this man deserve to die solely because he was witness to this jailbreak? Do the guards deserve to die solely because they weren’t following her orders? Can love justify these deaths?

Of course it can’t. There are limits to our ideas, things that even the biggest ideas can’t help but be overwhelmed by. Love would get part of the answer to it certainly, the motivations of it all, but it would be lacking as the answer to questions like “Why is the best course of action to brutally slaughter everyone in the room?” or “Does your husband even want this or are you doing it for yourself?” Love isn’t a good enough answer for this situation any more that it is for the question of

Why shouldn’t I commit suicide?

Or, for that matter, what is human? Because love is an aspect of the greater whole of humanity (does there need to be a single answer of what humanity is? Could being human be the contradictory nature at the crux of us, with many answers rather than the singular vision of Darkseids Sleep?). It could no more solve the problem of us than it could entropy or the myth of a noble past. It has its uses, certainly: it can help us get by when things seem bleak, it keeps us from being alone in our thoughts, and it gives us a reason to fight against the monsters that dwell within the annals of this utopia we call modernity. But it can’t justify the cruelty of our day-to-day lives. It can only explain it.

So yeah, Mister Miracle #5 was amazing.

“One part of love is sentiment,
One part of love is lust,
One part of love is presentiment
Of our return to dust.”
–Clive Barker, Weaveworld

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