Butterfly Kisses on Cloud Nine“You know that when I hate you, it's because I love you to a point of passion that unhinges my soul.” –Julie de Lespinasse.Love and hate are two of the most compelling emotions of which human beings are capable. Normally contrasted, these emotions are used to evaluate how much we like or dislike a certain object. However, recent studies show a different relationship between the two that could significantly alter how average people in society would view them. It is well known that a person in love can be capable of the most selfless acts of beauty or terrifying horrors, but people generally do not admit that this is due to the ever thin line drawn between love and hate in our world. The cause could stem from a tiny detail from our past that got stuck in our subconscious or a chance encounter that altered the balance of our life. In any case, it's hard to believe that love can get more complicated than it already seems, but Melanie Klein and Robert Sternberg prove it. The analytical studies of these psychologists have truly opened my world to love and all its complexities. No one does a better job of explaining the complexities of love or capturing its close relationship with hate than the esteemed psychologist Melanie Klein. Like many other post-Freudian psychologists, he emphasized the importance of the pre-Oedipal layers of personality development, with a specific focus on early mother-infant relationships. In his studies he answers the question of where this intricate emotional struggle originally comes from. Klein suggests that we, as infants, all have a primitive desire for our mother's breast because it satisfies our needs and desires for self-preservation. Even if it is provided, the ba...... middle of paper ......ice today. As long as I love with intensity and balance, I could create a beautiful threesome that could pair with someone else's to give me my perfect happy ending. I don't side with any of the psychologists in this. Both claims have substantial validity and seem credible enough, but my experiences with love, parental or intimate, have been too fleeting and inconsistent to make a claim about them. I don't doubt its power, but I doubt its meaning will ever truly be discovered. Works Cited Klein, Melanie and Joan Riviere. Love, Hate and Repair. New York: Norton, 1964. Print. Klein, Melanie and Juliet Mitchell. The selected Melanie Klein. New York: Free, 1987. Print.Roazen, Paul. Freud and his followers. New York: Da Capo, 1992. Print. Sternberg, Robert J. and Michael L. Barnes. The psychology of love. New Haven: Yale UP, 1988. Print.