What is Love?
 

I believe that it was Socrates who wrote that love was the child of Poverty and Plenty. Two things that destroyed themselves, lost their identity, to bring forth something greater.

Love is a romantic feeling, but is it contained to that? I think not. In the Bible, David is said to have loved Jacob -- not only in a brotherly love kind of way but a true love for another individual, for his spirit.

The bible also says:

Love is patient, love is kind. It does not envy, it does not boast, it is not proud. It is not rude, it is not self-seeking, it is not easily angered, it keeps no record of wrongs. Love does not delight in evil but rejoices with the truth. It always protects, always trusts, always hopes, always perseveres.
(I Corinthians 13:4-7)

and one of my favorite quotes,

"My love is a fever. My love is a fable. My love is jazz licks, improvised by toddlers; bold Ulysses by nursery rhyme and fire light."
~Over the Rhine http://www.overtherhine.com

SO, I suppose my question is this: What is love to you? I challenge you to think before you respond. Think about all the people in life that you have truly loved and cared for. What are the bounds of this human emotion? Is it simply a human emotion? I am interested in a provocative responce. . .you have been challenged!

I love searching!

http://www.tfproject.org/tfp/showthr...highlight=love

actually, i read through that forum and wasn't satisfied, that's why I asked again.

Thanks for the suggestion though. . .

I don't really know what love is, and I am not sure anyone will ever really understand it. But, I'm just gonna let it happen and enjoy...

Love is two people really caring for each other and one of them being far better than the other at tennis.

My mom always says " love is an action word". In other words, it ain't how you feel, it's what you do.
Love is a behaviour, plain and simple. I have a wee anecdote to illustrate my point.

When my son was born, he joined a family that had moved twice in six weeks, already contained a super high speed toddler, and a wife with, as of that time, undiagnosed post-partum depression. I was working about 60 to 72 hours a week, all nites, to pay for it all. It was about three in the morning, I had maybe three hours of sleep over the last forty-eight hours, and my disposition was somewhat sour. On that particular nite, I had already been up twice with him as he had picked this interval to confirm that he had colic. As I heard him cry again, I shot up cussing and fussing with absolutely NO goodwill in my heart. With teeth bared and grinding, I picked him up...placed him on my shoulder, and started patting his bottom. I took him to my recliner and rocked him back to sleep.

What I'm saying is that love sometimes goes against feelings... It is WHAT you do, not just how you feel.

Love is for everyone to decide for themselves... though, I'd have to disagree with Mr. Sticky, I don't think it's an action. For me it's a feeling, a complete sacrifice on my part for someone else, for their happyness, and for what they want. Even giving your life for someone else... but that's what I think in my short 18yrs in existance.

well i too agree love is an action. or, that love manifests itself in actions. you can tell someone you love them all you want, and really feel it, but if you do everything that contradicts that feeling (whether conscious or not), you aren't exactly expressing love. how then would one trust that you 'love' him/her? love needs to be expressed or it will not grow. you must nurture love. if you do not express love, how can you make sure it's there, besides "trust" in the other person? but is not trust built up based on the actions (evidence) that determine love is there? love is not tangible so you have to show it. and if love is a feeling (which i think it's more than that), those actions should come naturally, to most people.

Love is when someone else matters more to you than you do.

I agree with both these statements. When I've felt truly in love I'd do anything for the person I loved. Anything to benefit/help them. Love is perfected when two people both feel this way with each other where they'd do anything for each other!

Love can manifest itself to any degree on those means though.

Sho Nuff is correct . . . . . love is being selfish and frightened. When you love someone 'more than you live yourself' you are really saying that you will be VERY upset if anything bad happens to them. Love is therefore a protection mechanism which drives you to protect your 'loved ones' through fear of loss. Love is fear-driven. You dont want to lose the pleasure that the other person is bringing to you so you tell them you 'love' them! What you are really saying is "dont leave me! I am selfish and enjoy the pleasure you bring me". Hence the expression if you truly love someone set them free.

Love is a very selfish emotion. Avoid!

baby don't hurt me, don't hurt me... no more.

Depends on how Im feeling. If Im in a good mood, love is a great thing. If Im feeling skeptical, love is a biological mechanism designed to make us mate, therefore furthering the species.

Im usually skeptical.

So, can you love someone without attempting to control them? Since emotions are internal we can learn to make that investment emotionally without having to need anything from the other person. However, this is really difficult because it requires a sort of completeness or unity in the individual, which most of us never achieve (or want to achieve). Since love is such a strong feeling it tends to get associated with power, and people tend to look towards the external to feel power - it is fairly natural to try to feel power with love. I guess what I'm saying is that for me, love doesn't have to be fear driven, I have to let go of trying get things from what I love. Instead, I create. And I can get hurt, and when it happens (like it did recently), I can accept it and move on. And continue creating.

Yes, I agree with you. Although, Love IS perfect, no matter what.

And I could never see Love as just being an action. You DO things out of Love, which is the ULTIMATE feeling. A feeling can't do anything, it doesn't have to do anything, it just simply IS.

devotion, sacrifice and hard work, and most of all communication.

You cannot know love until you distinguish it in your life. It is the purest and simplist emotion and feeling. It's what makes you feel "good". It's what you can't see. It's when all you feel about something is all joy, happiness, peace, and unity. Look at circumstances and events that happen in your life. What makes you feel truly "good"?
True Love is Unconditional- to love something or someone without boundaries or limitations.

For some reason that quote has made my evening. Thanks :)

in the words of this guy, Brad Henning, "Love is choosing the highest good for the other person."
He explained if you love someone then you will do what ever is best for them, even if its harmful to you. Well..i'll not further elaborate but you should get the idea.

Damn, you beat me to it...

love is irrational madness

baby dont hurt me dont hurt me no more


:D


oops guess i am late on that

Love is a natural impulse between people intended for evolutionary advances.