("reading them in their words") to the effect: when, frequently asked about Love, so many have responded in this vein: ~~ "Begin with a pet, before you imagine that you can comprehend what it might mean elsewhere."

While that's the short-form of some dissertations, my experience verifies something about that, while also illuminating that other difficult word, wisdom (thus why they are called Sages.) Those who can/do chain a former family-member to an outdoor 'house' through the winter, never had a 'pet', just a somewhat temporarily-amusing possession. I was gratified to hear of one beneficent consequence of the New Orleans flooding: the plight of those Forced! to leave behind their significant-Others, in order to be evacuated.. finally it was recognized what that meant.

Henceforth, even in the dis-USA, one's companion Shall Be accommodated (don't know how universally has that been recognized ... yet.) But hearing of this change did evoke just a a few moments of fondly imagining pre-Murican times.. There's always that price, though: we outlive them. I don't even try to parse that.