This article explores the notion that human behaviors and desires can be attributed to someone called the “Other.” Throughout history, since Aristotle, it has been suggested that humans are imitative beings. Along with further developed versions of Aristotle’s concept of mimesis, the idea emerged that man actually imitates the desire of the “Other”. That is manifested not only in personal life, but also in all aspects of social life. In this article, the focus is specifically on love and how it (...) can be understood through this theory. Contrary to contemporary interpretations of love, the argument is made that it is, in fact, a destructive (murderous) emotion. To support this claim, references to literature, psychoanalysis, literary criticism, and philosophy are made. It is claimed that love is not a feeling of happiness, but of crisis, hysterical fits and pain. Tolstoy’s Anna Karenina serves as an example of love’s tumultuous nature. The fact that people give different shades to this ancient feeling in the modern world parallels the change of the world and human understanding. In the modern world, people attempt to live a life free of pain, sterilized and unwounded which causes a change in the essence of love. The article emphasizes these features and describes the ancient essence of love. (shrink)