Originally Posted by Agent of the Revolution

You're right, society does put love and relationships in a box, which is very limiting and causes a great deal of pain.

Society tells us that it's only ok to have a relationship with one person at a time, and that if you feel something for someone else then that's 'bad' and 'wrong'. It lays down all these rules which must be followed, and says that it is a great sin to break them.

I believe this is a form of collective ego, and comes from the basic unconsciousness in which people feel unfulfilled, and are constantly looking outside of themselves for some satisfaction. So when they feel love with someone they become very dependant on that person to sustain their feeling of love, which will inevitably lead to pain and suffering because all forms are temporary and constantly changing. We believe that love is dependant on another person feeling a certain way about us because we think we are getting our love from them - when the opposite is the case, that love comes through us, and in the unawakened state only does so because our minds tell us that we have satisfied the material criteria to feel it. Love is merely our natural state of felt oneness with being and a gratitude for existance, it is part of who we are, feeling and knowing ourselves directly in our oneness with the totality. But because most people are identified with their minds, they only feel love in the beginning of relationships, when we feel like we've found love, that we've got there, and the other person gives us validation and seems to be the 'proof' the ego needs to allow the love to be felt, at least for a while. Soon however, the circumstances will change, and our mind, believing these had to be just so for there to be love, cut us off - which causes heartbreak.

At least that's how I can best describe it from my experiences.