محبت دل کا شعوری جذبہ ہے

اور عشق لاشعور اور شعور سے پرے ہے

 اس میں وجود کا دخل نہیں

 یہ ایک روح سے دوسری روح کے تعلق کا نام ہے

(راست)

Love is a conscious emotion of the heart,  

while devotion transcends both consciousness and the subconscious.  

It goes beyond physical existence;  

it is the bond between one soul and another.

(RAAST)

Love stories are not a new feature on the pages of book, they reveal much greater truths about humanity and relationships. In this section, we review themes that have made ten books with timeless love stories a staple of literature and readers' lives.

by Jane Austen

Theme: Love and Personal Growth

This is an ageless novel classic where love is discussed in terms of the emerging relationship of Elizabeth Bennet and Mr. Darcy. It is a story of class, family, and how to overcome pride and prejudices with self-discovery and emotional maturity.

2. Jane Eyre 

by Charlotte Bronte

Theme: Passion and Independence

Essentially, Jane Eyre is the story about seeking self-esteem and emotional fulfillment. In whatever relationship or situation is involved, the love shared between Jane and Mr. Rochester will always be level, tough, and stubborn.

3. Wuthering Heights

by Emily Bronte

Theme: Obsessive and Destructive Love

This is a dark, hauntingly beautiful tale into the untamed wilderness of love. Broken-up lovers-Heathcliff and Catherine Earnshaw-analyzes how unchecked emotions will impact the living and even to inanimate objects within the setting for themes concerning vengeance and passion.

4. Romeo and Juliet

by William Shakespeare

Theme: Tragic Love and Sacrifice

A quintessential love tragedy, Romeo and Juliet explores passion in young love and shows how it does overcome even family feuding. What makes this novel something that is timeless human emotion explorations is the theme of destiny, sacrifice, and just how everything in love and life is short-lived.

by Leo Tolstoy

Theme: Love, Infidelity and Social Expectations

In his novel, Tolstoy opens the complexities of love romantic and familial. He unfolds the ideas on passion, betrayal, and the crushing force of social judgment in his tragic love story between Anna and Count Vronsky.

6. Gone with the Wind 

by Margaret Mitchell

Theme: Resilience and Unrequited Love

This is a film epic set against the tumult of American Civil War, recording the relationships and tumultuous love affairs of Scarlett O'Hara with her pursuit of love against the backdrop of a survival-based world, ambition, and the complexities of the human desire.

 7. The Notebook

 by Nicholas Sparks

Themes: Enduring Love

A modern classic, The Notebook exalts the long enduring power of true love. The story of Noah and Allie celebrates themes such as memory, devotion, and love's enduring nature amid all of life's vicissitudes.

 8. Love in the Time of Cholera 

by Gabriel García Márquez

Theme: Patience and Eternal Love

This is a lyrical novel over fifty years old, exploring the love that transcends time and hardship. Obsession, fidelity, and the dual natures of love and lust are beautifully woven into this lyrical tale.

9. Outlander

by Diana Gabaldon

Theme: Love Across Time

This historical-erotic romance is a crossbreed of history, fantasy, and passion. In the love story of Claire and Jamie, it explores themes of loyalty, bravery, and the idea that love can transcend time and circumstance.

by F. Scott Fitzgerald

Theme: Love, Obsession, and the American Dream

Indeed, it would make sense that Jay Gatsby's ruthless chase of Daisy Buchanan would speak profoundly to idealized love as it intersects with ambition and materialism. The narration speaks to themes of nostalgia and loss and the disillusion of the American Dream.

Why These Stories Last

These love stories lived and continued because they took with them universal experiences, reflecting all types of love-the passionate, consuming types of love as well as those tender, enduring relationships. Every one of them opens a new lens for understanding all sorts of emotions and wishes that lie within these humans' relationship, bringing precious pieces of literature before you, bound to keep for long periods.

 No matter how wise, experienced,

or aged we become, love always

turns us into naive , clumsy and childish beings.

(RAAST)

 ہم کتنے ہی عقل مند ،تجربہ کار اور عمر رسیدہ ہو جائیں

 مگر محبت ہمیں بے عقل ،اناڑی اور بچہ بنا ہی دیتی ہے

 (راست)

 کبھی کبھی انسان کو یہ خیال آتا ہے کہ

 اگر وہ اپنے محبوب کی پرچھائی بن جائے تو شاید اسے 

وہ قربت اور لمحات میسر آ سکیں جن میں خالص خوشی کا تجربہ ہو۔ 

مگر پرچھائی بنتے بنتے، وہ اپنے وجود کو اس حد تک مٹا دیتا ہے کہ

 خود کو چراغ تلے اندھیرا بنا لیتا ہے

جہاں زندگی کی بجائے موت کا سا احساس ہوتا ہے

(راست)

Sometimes a person feels 

that if they could become the shadow of their beloved, 

they might gain the closeness and moments 

that offer the experience of pure happiness. 

But in the process of becoming a shadow,

 they erase themselves to such an extent

 that they turn into darkness beneath the lamp,

 where there is a feeling akin to death instead of life.

(RAAST)

 کبھی کبھار آپ کے وجود کا مقصد ایک مختصر لمحے میں پوشیدہ ہوتا ہے 

جو کسی اور کی زندگی کو حقیقی معنی بخش دیتا ہے۔

(راست)

Don’t be so anxious; sometimes,

 the purpose of your existence is found

 in a single fleeting moment 

that brings genuine meaning to someone else’s life.

(RAAST)

Happiness:

Happiness is a state connected to a person's inner feelings and the condition of the heart. Often, we think that wealth, fame, status, health, and other material things will provide us with happiness, but all these offer only limited joy. A person's true happiness lies in the things they cherish, even if those things seem impossible or forbidden.

If we don’t consider our desires as the true standard of happiness and set them aside, then the question arises: what is the nature of the happiness that remains? Is this leftover happiness sufficient for us, or is true happiness hidden in our own will and cherished things?

In a state of unrest, a person’s constant pursuit of happiness becomes a form of greed for happiness, or perhaps an intense sorrow that, somewhere deep in the mind, takes such a frightening form that, out of fear of it, we keep searching for happiness all the time.

Suppose that if feelings like happiness and sorrow didn’t exist, then human desires would also become meaningless, as these emotions are what motivate us to achieve something or stay engaged in its pursuit. A person feels motivated to attain something only when there is a sense of lack in their heart. Without happiness and sorrow, this feeling of lack would disappear, and perhaps the pursuit of life itself would become faint.

It seems that happiness and sorrow are essential elements of our life journey. These two emotions remind us of our humanity and give purpose and motivation to our lives.

Yet, the question remains: "What is true happiness?" Some people link happiness with spirituality, calling it the satisfaction of God's will. But for those who are unaware of or deny God's existence, what could be the meaning of happiness? Perhaps for them, happiness lies in things that, upon thought, bring a surge of joy, while other things, upon thought, bring sadness.

We have similarly divided  in our lives—some emotions bring us happiness, and some bring us sorrow. If this distinction were removed, perhaps everything would become happiness, or we could say that we would learn to find happiness in everything.

It could also be that happiness is not linked to a specific feeling or thing but rather to our perspective that gives rise to it. When we erase the boundaries between happiness and sorrow, then every state in life can become a part of happiness.

Happiness can have many meanings and dimensions, varying according to each person’s experiences and thoughts. In my view, happiness is that state when a person feels content with themselves, accepting their existence and the conditions of life. It is not a momentary joy or fleeting pleasure but an inner calm and state of satisfaction.

Sometimes this feeling comes from those around us, sometimes by achieving a specific goal, and sometimes in simple moments, like experiencing the beauty of nature. For some, it is a spiritual experience, while for others, it is in small life achievements.

Perhaps happiness is not the name of a single thing but an emotion we discover through various occasions and experiences in our lives, each becoming a part of happiness.

(RAAST)