"Is it possible to maintain your individuality if you are in love? What does"individuality” mean here ?Love & IndividualityThe question of love has been discussed both rhetorically and philosophically over the ages. However rhetorically this question has never been answered and no accurate explanation hascome out of it. The great philosophers have never been able to reach a common ground on whatthe precise definition of love can be seen as. It can be anything like requiring succumbing toone’s lover entirely or it can be a desire to from a union out of two different and independentindividuals. It can also be valuing the other personally without questioning them. But never anyof these questions have been answered to precision. One of the many theories leads to aconclusion that over and above everything else, love is a union. Greek terminology uses the word ‘eros’ to describe love which when translated in literalmeaning would turn out to mean sexual, passionate and romantic. And also ‘philia’ whichliterally means love within the friends (Armstrong,2003). The reason why romantic love is sodifficult to define and pinpoint is the fact that it’s just an emotion because it constantly keeps onchanging according to the circumstances and also because the reasons for attractions constantlydiffer. Hence as sexual dimension is therefore very important to be taken into consideration as itis a constant and also a very important dimension of the romantic love as well.Anotherimportant facet of romantic love or any other kind of love is the concern of the individual overthe contentment and the desire welfare of the person you are in love with. This will show itself inmany aspects while the two parties in a strong relationship. Other important features that are tobe considered while discussing about love are the strong emotional bonding and the desirebetween the two lovers which may or may not result into a marriage and also procreation whichin itself isthe reason for a ,ot of social and moral expectations from the two people. The aspectsrelated to exclusivity of the two concerned parties with respect to each other and also thedependent which is created as a result are also important factors involved that cannot be missed.Moreover marriage and the social expectation arising out of it, the union of two families and thesocial obligations in the entire process are also something that needs to be kept in mind. There will be important issues between the two parties which if not resolve quickly and in a gracefulmanner may lead to long term problems and even a break up. These issues might concern toadultery, jealousy or growing expectations from each other (Lamb ,1997).Theory: Love as UnionSome theorists believe that the formation of the union between two individuals is the fusion oftheir souls. Love is a passage which would allow the lovers to express and define themselves inregards to a relation with their partner. This is explained by the fact that that love is aamalgamation and concentration of the intense mutual definition of the individual. So in a way, itis a recreation that the individual achieves when in love. This new identity is important inorder tobe a benefit to the relationship in its totality. This would mean that the lovers would need to beable to combine their individual interests and beliefs which at some point of time were their own. So in a way there doesn’t appear to be any literal separation between the two individuals of anykind. The lovers would end up sharing a single identity, but it’s their own role in which theywould have to define their own identity (McEvoy, 2011).Another theory states that love is more of a union of concern between the two individuals morethan anything else. So more or less there is a union of concern between the two individuals morethan anything else. So it’s the concern that the lovers show for the sake of their relationshipwhich would end up determining the strength of their love. So instead of having a metaphoricalunion between the lovers, their needs to be an actual union between the lovers that would enticethem to show actual concerns and affection for their lover.There is still another view of love which says that the expression of love would depend on thedesire of the lovers to form a kind of union with another individual. So this suggests that themore there is an desire to form the union between the two parties, the stronger the love is. So thisextreme desire to from a union with another individual is the entire basis for the love to exist.The stronger this desire is between the two parties, the stronger their love ends up being. So thisview differs in a way that this kind of succession of union between the two individuals in theirrelationship depends on each of the lovers ending up sacrificing their own wellbeing for the sakeof the other person and their relationship (Solomon &Higgins , 1991). "