What is love?

Of all the students in the world there was one in particular who had many questions. ‘Go!’, they cried, ‘Speak to the mystic on the mountain. We have lost track! He has a mind like a box of mirrors. When you catch his eyes just right you’ll get a glimpse of something wonderful inside.’
So the student went, and when she found the mystic she knew him at once by his eyes.
‘Tell me’, she asked, ‘What is goodness?’
‘Goodness is the desire for love’, he replied. ‘That is all goodness is.’
‘Indeed, if such a thing is true’, she answered, ‘And I do not know that it is, what is hope?’
‘Hope is the belief in love.’
‘Then faith?’
‘The certainty of love.’ ‘Now, hand me that rope.’
The student handed him the rope that she was carrying.
‘Pull the rope from my hand’, said he.
The student tried, but could not free the rope.
Then the mystic said:
‘Since I know the next questions you will ask, here are the answers:
Imagination is the search for love
Passion the pursuit of love
Peace the knowledge of love
Wisdom the understanding of love
Truth the way of love
Beauty the promise of love
And forgiveness, Love’s power.’
‘Holy anthems!’, cried the student, ‘What actually is love? I have heard so many things about it, my ears are sore!’
‘Love’, said he, ‘Is a string that benefits both ends.’
In her surprise the student let go of the rope
And fell for a thousand miles
And when she reached the bottom
She understood
Her journey had just begun.