Love also is an intrinsic defining aspect of human nature and human life. Somewhere, somehow, the power of love seems to offer itself as an answer to the painful riddle of death. Yet the legends of antiquity and our own human experience often show us that love ultimately fails to answer that riddle. That is, our mortality defines us. Death is given to us, we cannot escape it.
Love is surely the answer to death.
Throughout the ages, in every period of history, specific teachings and practices have been offered to mankind that point to the possibility of transcending our seemingly inescapable finitude. Essential to all such teachings is that the way to the new life cannot be forced upon human beings, either through fear or seduction or logic that compels only the mind, or through habit and blind obedience. The gifts that come from the gods must be asked for, freely, from oneself alone. Countless are the legends and tales that speak of the paramount importance of knowing what to wish for, and of the tragedy that awaits men and women who wish foolishly or egoistically. The story of Baucis and Philemon may be taken as symbolic hint of the kind of love that can develop between two people who are searching for truth and who wish to serve the truth.