What is love?

The age-old question has been bothering me quite a bit lately. Any opinions?

 

Is love the subject, the adjective, or adverb of the sentence. It could make a difference.

 

yup!
I would say when you love someone you do things for them lovingly without them having to ask you
They're in your thoughts all the time
caring and sharing
you put them first ( in most cases)

To name some possible definitions!

 

Lots of definitions, and it's a very mis-used word. I love ice cream. I love my car. I love my computer. I love sex. I love Brittney Spears, or <fill in your own fantasy girl>.

I like Robert Heinlein's definition best: Love is the condition where the happiness and well being of another person is critical to your own.

 

Love is what you feel towards a person when every single other word, (hate, like, lust, dislike, etc. ) fails to explain the way you feel towards them. the only logical feeling left must be love,, and it works, because nobody really knows what the heck it means anyway.

 

It's a many-speldored thing.

 

Love is...http://www.comicspage.com/comicspag...=20050617cplis-a-p.jpg&code=cplis&dir=/loveis

 

We are young, heartache to heartache we stand No promises, no demands... We are strong, no one can tell us we’re wrong. Searchin’ our hearts for so long, both of us knowing....

Love is a battlefield

 

Love is in the mind of the beholder - like all emotions.


....Boo Yeah!!

 

Alright star, what did you do?

 

I'm sure she feels it's a five letter 'word' C.H.R.I.S., heh?

 

In terms of love between a man and a woman, I guess that question depends on weither you are 1) currently in love, or 2) have just had your heart broken, or 3) have never really been in love at all. Having experienced all three, I can say for me that:

1) It is impossible to find words to explain everything you feel

2) It is impossible to find words to explain everything you feel

3) It is impossible to know if you are in this state or not, until 1) crashes down wonderfully upon your senses, and then you JUST KNOW

There were many times I mistook infatuation with love, but these (while wonderful in and of themselves) never stand the test of time. I wasn't till I met my wife that I understood that I had never really been in love with a woman before. Nothing in my life before or since equals the emotion I feel for her - and in the years that have passed, that emotion has grown and lost none of it's passion. I have far, far more blessing in my life then I deserve.

 

It's a sixties hippy rock group isn't it? The name Arthur Lee rings a bell...

 

Yeah. I like that one. I've had a few arguements with people over the word. It's grossly abused as far as it's true meaning goes. There are different types. When I married I loved my wife, but I couldn't differentiate between love and lust. It wasn't until my kids came along that realized the true meaning.

 

A chemical imbalance in the brain that releases serotonin to make you feel good when someone is around,its an addictive feeling that make you do irrational things to keep the high.

All our ancesters that didnt have this love chemical imbalance didnt look after and provide for there partners and babies,therefore they died and didnt pass on thier genes,some survived and now rule our countries.

As you can probably tell,I'm all alone in front of my computer.

 

Love the thought:Some concept or object(person or a thing) we would keep in our mind and attach someting called emotions(or chemicals as Rikky say)to it,once an emotion is created a background process begins to run in our brains(subconscious)which scans our thoughts(in real time) for these events(remains forever or until an emotion is forgoten,which is rare-btw-i am looking for a way to forget these emotion-stop these background processes-could save some thinking speed),if found an emotion(chemical) is released which notifies our conscious self of the fact that the goodness has arrived.
Love the feeling:The background process trigers the chemicals which notifies us of the goodness that has just arrived.

 

Bubble wrap.
So safe inside it that nothing can hurt you, invinciblity needed to protect the one that provided the bubble wrap....
It's late.. that may not have made sense...

The mmmm feeling where everything is happy inside you.. until you remember you're hungry =(

 

awww that's so sweet.
to answer the question literally though. it's chemicals.
and just like in chemistry, some mixes blow things up, others smolder and some just fizzle away.

 

We can talk about wanting the very best for others, that's the human side of love.

Love is usually something that continues to give us pleasure every time we go back to it. But in it's most fundamental form, it is something we BELIEVE in very strongly, and are prepared to preserve it. It may be person(s), it may be objects; it most often is concepts and ideas (e.g. patriotism, political/religious concepts; life-style decisions).

Sometimes, the love may combine with other ideas and emotions, and literally be more important than life itself.

 

One of the things I've heard before and like probably the most is "love is sacrifice." I also think a good trip to I Corinthians 13 might help.

 

I'll consider all that as a reasonable definition!

And happy "almost" birthday to you!

 

Yes love as a sacrifice is a good point.However it must not be used as a rule, must come from the heart.Obssesive-compulsive behavior in love can lead to loss of quality.All the things we enjoy in a relation tend to be stored in memory and we tend to go back to these past wonders.This is a mistake in my opinion.The decision must be made everytime and not be taken out of memory,its like cleaning the prefetch folder in windows xp. When I say obssesive-compulsive I mean thing we do because it worked before with no effort in creative analysis.btw I corinthians 13 is my mothers favorite.

Another place where this comes up is in the teachings of Jesus regarding the law.If you read some you will realise the exact same thing aplies there.

 

Totally agree,when people begin to only be happy when their loved ones are happy,it drains them of energy constantly worrying whether the said person is happy or not,they forget what it is that makes them happy.Alot of Mothers and fathers go through phase and sacrifice everything for their children,when the childeren jump ship,they then have to rediscover what makes them happy again,some rediscover each other,some go out and buy a sports car,some realize they have nothing in common other than the children and split up.

In a romantic relationship I think its most healthy to have a 50/50 balance half for your partner half for yourself,when a relationship is unbalanced,it seems the one who sacrifices more ends up being hurt,they have sacrificed what they love in pusuit of their partners happiness and when that sacrifice isnt reciprocated or the appriciation isnt obvious,it leads them with an empty feeling or leads them to give more,I think this is basis of alot of abusive relationships,one party believes its their fault their partner isnt happy and the other party see's this and takes advantage of it.

 

some-one has probably posted this, but just in case, 1 corinthians, ch 13, much aloha

 

for the biblically challenged:-

"If i speak with the tongues of men and of angels, but have not Love, i become the sound of brass, or the clanging of a cymbal.
If i have the gift of prophecy, and understand all mysteries, and all knowledge, and if i have all the faith to remove mountains, but have not Love, i am nothing.
And if i bestow all my goods to feed the poor, and give my body to be burned, but have not Love, it profits me nothing.
Love suffers long, and is kind. Love does not envy. Love does not parade itself, is not puffed up.
Love does not behave rudely, does not seek its own, is not provoked, thinks no evil.
Love does not rejoice in iniquity, but rejoices in truth.
Love bears all things, believes all things, hopes all things, endures all things.
Love never fails. But prophesies will fail, tongues will cease, and knowledge will fade away.
for we only know in part, and we only prophesy in part, and when we know perfect love, that which we only know in part will be done away.

 

Agree with you without disagreeing with Rikky and my other post.

 

Rikkys point of 50/50 balance will occur in true love and love heals,so it doesnt require the other person to be perfect,so an unbalanced relationship is actually a sign of no love.

 

Here you'll love this:
http://www.virtual-bubblewrap.com/popnow.shtml

 

What is Love?
Thats when your thought process leaves your Brain & travels South to your Sex Organs.

 

That's not love, that's lust. Although a lot of people don't realize there's a difference.

 

1 John 4:8

 

Welcome to the world according to man! Everything you look at is designed to make us take up this approach to life. You only have to watch TV adverts for 2 minutes to see that it is YOU that is deemed important ... nothing else matters apparently. Kinda sad...in a big way.... Even adverts that say "buy this for so and so" end up saying do it becuase it will make you feel good.

 

I love bubblewrap,funny link,I had to pop every virtual bubble before I could leave

 

love is primarily and outward emotion. it is felt the strongest when giving it. to me love is very simple. UNCONDITIONAL giving.

 

In my opinion there is no 100% true way to explain what love is, or how it works, or how to know when you are experiencing this feeling/emotion...other than to say that you will know the feeling when it happens, and odds are you probably still won't understand it...but it is an awesome feeling!!!!

When you offer/recieve love...nothing else matters!!!!!!!!!!

Roger

 

1 John 4.7-12 "Dear friends, let us love one another, for love comes from God. Everyone who loves had been born of God and knows God. Whoever does not love does not know God, because God is love. This is how God showed his love among us: He sent is one and only Son into the world that we might live through him. This is love: not that we loved God, but that he loved us and sent his Son as an atoning sacrifice for our sins. Dear Friends, since God so loved us, we also out to love on another. No one has ever seen God; but if we love one another, God lives in us and his love is made complete in us."

There's more in this chapter for one to read. When love is there, God is there, since he first loved us. He created love. When love is expressed absolutely, then God is present.