Master and slave BDSM relationship - Can there be love?

Over the years I have seen many people ask whether or not there can be love in a Master and slave BDSM relationship. Much of the old school thought is anything that can take away from the lines of authority will be detrimental to the relationship. It is this belief that causes a lot of Masters to say that love detracts from a Master and slave relationship. They believe that their capacity to love inhibits their authority. If this is their belief then it will certainly come to pass. It isn't true though. There are also a lot of Masters that just have emotional issues and use BDSM as a way to avoid dealing with them. I won't be going into this thought pattern or belief system here.

Love is an essential part of ANY healthy relationship. This goes for all BDSM relationships as well. If love is understood, and not mistaken for something that it is not, it can only be beneficial to a relationship. When you truly love someone, you want them to be happy, healthy, and secure. In a M/s relationship is is the Masters job to look for a way to accomplish this. It is the responsibility of the person in the Dominant role to see what is beneficial for the person in the submissive role. If you love them you will want the best for them. If the Master is truly dominant, they will not look to the submissive for guidance on what is beneficial. The Master will guide.

The only place that this seems to get questioned is in a Master and slave BDSM relationship. No one asks if a parent should love their child. No one would suggest that love is detrimental to a parent and child relationship and yet there is a very defined line of authority there. Animal owners are known to love and care for their animals without any detriment to the line of authority. This whole thought process comes from fear and not love. Love enhances things and fear tears them apart.

Some aspects of a deep and meaningful M/s relationship can only be achieved through love. Love is a natural feeling for all humans and it is only through closing off and walling up those feelings that we keep them at bay. If all that you want out a BDSM lifestyle is to be able to boss someone around then love doesn't really matter to the relationship. You don't allow yourself to have something more than physical and thus cannot attain it. There is MUCH more available, though, through a Master and slave BDSM relationship. There is a connection that can go far beyond the bounds of the physical. A unity in purpose, direction, path, and life that cannot be found without the defined authority structure found in this lifestyle. It doesn't matter if you call it BDSM or not and was around long before this term was coined.

In order to have this kind of spiritual and emotional unity, a great trust and bond must be built. The greater the trust, the greater the bond. If there is a defined structure of authority, which can be easily determined in this lifestyle, than it is merely the resistance against this structure that causes a lock of unity and harmony. If the submissive trusts the Master to be right, loves their Master, and loves themselves, they will not resist this authority. The more trust and love they have, the less they will resist. This extends to a depth that is inconceivable to many. It can go far beyond romantic and become devotion. It can even extend beyond devotion to become worship.

If this is understood then it is only a matter of understanding how to achieve this. If there is going to be a bond that extends beyond the physical, the walls to the emotional must be eliminated. The less impedance to emotional connection the easier and more completely it happens. Emotion is the bridge between the physical and the spiritual. Without it there is no connection. Develop the love but develop a pure love. Don't place conditions on it. Don't limit it to romance or any other physical quality. See the slave for all that they are. Only in doing that can you have all that they are. When the Master can remove all internal barriers to the slave, the slave can be taught to remove their barriers as well. The more this emotional bond is built, the greater the trust the slave has in their Master, the greater and deeper the bond will be. Love will start the journey that can then progress to devotion, and if it is desired, worship. I love my slave freely, openly, and without limit. She, in turn, listens to me, is devoted to me, and worships me. This isn't what everyone desires but it is certainly available to all that want it. Love does not hinder it but is actually fundamental to achieving it.