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This is a phrase from one of my favorite songs by John Lennon, LOVE.
Love is knowing we can be
As a speaker of English as a second language, my first response was like we can be what?
I know it's not such a good idea to take song lyrics seriously. Still, I was wondering what it could mean.
Can I take it to mean:
Love is knowing we can exist
Or could it have any implied meanings?
I think yours a valid interpretation, and also agree with Anton's answer.
However, to address the more abstract phrasing, I would interpret it to not exclusively be a cause or reason for either 'being' or for constituting a 'we'—the ambiguity is intentional; it suggests how the 'we' can be anything (including, but not limited to, "real", "feeling", "be loved", &c.).
In brief:
I think, therefore I exist (Descartes)
We love, therefore We exist.
In full:
The lyric parallels a key philosophical writing of René Descartes.
A summary is:
1000 Word Philosophy
If you are reading this, then you are probably looking at a screen or a piece of paper. Think to yourself: “I have some paper in my hand,” “I am in front of a computer” or whatever fits.Is your belief here certain? Is there any way that you could believe this, yet your belief be false? Is there any possibility that you are mistaken about this belief? René Descartes (1596-1650) argues you could: this belief, and almost all other beliefs, are not certain.
Descartes argues that there is one clear exception, however: “I think, therefore I am.” He claims to have discovered a belief that is certain and irrefutable. Perhaps there is no saying more famous in philosophy than this phrase, often known as the “Cogito” after its Latin phrasing, “cogito ergo sum”.
The song lyric may be interpreted as hope of drawing a similar conclusion. A conclusion that “love” (being a belief shared by two people) is certain evidence of a “We”. Just as Descartes argued that thought (a certain activity of one mind) is evidence of existence of an “I”.
The “we” (with object form “us”) is real and of long usage as a pronoun to represent married couples, lovers, parents and so forth.
Context is important. From Love (John Lennon)
Love is you, you and me
Love is knowing we can be
We can be love, people! Theoretically, we can be [love], individually or as a unit; it's not really clear.
In songs, rhyming is usually very important, and in English, you can leave out words that were just mentioned.
We're not married, but we could be [married] tomorrow.
And leaving room for interpretation is common practice, so who's to say what all love is…besides Lennon, in this, and Kim's comics in the '70s. It was a different time.
