“Love at first sight” is often dismissed as nothing more than lust. But lust is not the primal attraction to the opposite sex, it is a disordered desire toward the wrong thing or for only personal gratification, whereas proper primal desire of the opposite sex is not only natural, but good. A person who is corrupted with lust can only see another human being as a material object for masturbation. A person who feels a well-ordered, primal sexual desire for a human being is drawn to them in a physical way, but it is so much more than that.
How does one distinguish lust from love? And what is the nature of this “love at first sight”? It cannot be the same as the mature love developed through the darkest hours of marriage and life. But there is something to it.
This myth of love at first sight seems even more attractive and interesting to people today who are struggling and desperate to find true love of their own. Does the person who is meant for us come into our lives with a glowing halo around their head? We are such a risk averse culture, rightly so with the normalization of heartbreak and people treating each other viciously in matters of the heart, that many hesitate now to make the leap at all, wishing to know as much as possible before taking the leap again to trust someone.
I have to say, the answers to these questions are much simpler than the questions themselves. And when you see them, you’ll never be confused by such things again.