This is a means to clarify two types of passion. In our society today we have things, material things. The products that either drive our thoughts, conversations or hobbies. The other "thing" we possess is passion, or more clearly, the eros, the desire for feeling close to another.
Us humans have many passions and desires for unity and harmony with one another. We want acceptance, closeness with others, authentic relationships, the feeling of recognition--Hegel, a philosopher of the 1800s defined it as saying, "I am for you, as you are for me."--this, in his mind, was true recognition.
Now, these passions--the desire for products/things, or the desire for the untouchable yet very tangible feelings of harmony and unity with those around you--friends, family and your bf or gf.
Here's my main question: Ever wonder if two people who are in love--fully devoted to one another, engaged and can't wait to get married, caught in that moment in their life when all they desire/want is each other--ever wonder if these two people have an increased or decreased desire to buy products or seek after new technologies or games etc.?
Say, for instance, they're not yet looking at wedding expenses and all that stuff to buy for their wedding day, and all they have is each other. Do they spend their money on time-valued investments or Material-valued investments? Time-valued investments are activities that the couple can do together such as dates, renting movies, exercise classes together, cooking together, running together, etc. material-valued investments are buying products or accessories that can rust and get old such as new TVs, new computers, new clothes, new furniture, new stuff of any kind.
It's been said that love makes you do crazy things...so in a society that continues to buy products and seek pleasure through them rather than one another, perhaps the craziest and most fun part about being in love is having that unity and desire for the other, to be for them as they are for you as Hegel would say, and to enjoy the pursuit of being with your lover rather than pursuing material products as a means to fill your inner most desires (being in love).
In a society that esteems one's stuff, wouldn't the craziest feeling of all be that of being only concerned for your lover rather than how many or how big all your products?
"I am for you, as you are for me." ---Hegel
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