What is Love?

[mad benji89]

Baby don't hurt me...
According to Douglas Adams, it's a terrible disease of the mind, and I feel the same way. Unconditional love is pure ignorance and denial at it's best.

i agree with you tottally. who needs it just bring the groupies and beer

 

[countkillalot]

''The Justification and salvation of individuality through the sacrifice of egoism.''
- Vladimir Solovyov


I just had to share my favorite definition.

 

[riskroWe]

You're all wrong, love IS totally separate from lust.

Love is what you feel for those who are especially close to you, it's a tribal/pack instinct. I can love my parents and my children and my dog.

Lust is what you feel while looking at half naked supermodels. It's a sexual/reproductive thing.

On those rare occasions when Love and Lust are both felt, that is Romance.

 

[Pimppeter2]

Lust is the desire for their body; love is the desire for their soul.

That is my generic definition.


(I like lust more)

 

[USSR]

..baby don't hurt me!

Don't hurt me!

No more!!

..juss saying this because I have nothing else to really contribute to the topic.

But I did finish the title, like 52 other people on this thread =p

 

[AOTA]

Baby don't hurt me, don't hurt me. No more!

I feel better now, knowing im not the only one who heard those words in my head after i read the title. Brilliant!

Lol the same. This is like the third time I've quoted you today. I think I'm done, at least until you post exactly what I was going to say before me.

When i saw the name,i knew this was going to happen, but 34 people?! wow... anyway


Oh, I don't know why you're not there
I give you my love, but you don't care
So what is right and what is wrong
Gimme a sign

 

[captainwillies]

What is love?
The chemical reactions and electrical signals within your brain, that signifies that you have located a potential mate. This results from observation of the face, body and behaviour over various periods of time, information is gathered from these observations on the quality of genes, ability to withstand pregnancy in case of female candidates, and compatibility of character. When all of these qualities are met at a suitable level reactions in the brain will cause hormones, endorphins and adrenalin to be released into your body, this in turn increases blood flow, putting stress on your heart, the endorphins and hormones trigger feeling of bliss and happiness. These serve to explain why being in love causes people to blush, have heartache, and feel good. Love is nothing more than a survival instinct embedded deep within our genetic coding. Our brains are programmed to make us feel good about it when we find potential mates, and this in turn leads us to seek them out. The ultimate goal of love is to mate, to reproduce and make sure our race does not die out.
We as a race have become obsessed with the side effects of love, rather than its ultimate purpose. The fluttering of the heart, the warming of the face, the uneasiness, all have been immortalised as pure love through countless centuries of literature, songs and legends. Love itself has in today?s society become separated from its purpose, a perversion of its true meaning, in turn its true purpose is viewed as a perversion of love. The concept of love separated from physical reproduction has become so engraved in the collective human psyche that to oppose it, is social taboo. In truth this separation cannot be credited solely to romance novels, our dominance of our planet has contributed as well. Our uncontested ownership of our planet has lead to us becoming collectively arrogant. Our arrogance has long ago reached the point where our need to mate, in order to keep up our population, has been suppressed. The last and perhaps latest reason for the separation of physical need to mate and love is modern science. Our live spans are now extended to over double of what we were originally intended for. This has almost eliminated the need for mating to replenish populations. We can now also still bear children at much older ages than what is natural, as a result out lives are extended further, due to bodily degeneration not starting until after bearing children. Soon technology will have advanced to the point where physical reproduction will no longer be necessary. Then the separation will be complete.
People who chase after love are no better than junkies craving a high. There is no longer any need to recreate, we have complete dominance over our planet, and almost complete certainty of survival. The only reason people seek out love now is to experience the rush of chemicals released into your bloodstream when you find a potential mate. What people call true love is nothing but the perversion of a natural process, a disgusting mockery of nature.

no what you seem to be stating is "attraction". when a man see a woman he gets attracted to her. why? because those are the electrical signals and what not.

love is what keeps people together after. if not then we'd mostly likely be like the animals and fornicate then move on. don't get me wrong marrige is seen as a sign of love but most of the time its those chemical reactions going on overdrive making young people do stupid things.

attraction is what perpetuates the race. love is different but similar which is why it is often confused with attraction.

I am not giving an explaination to what love is I'm simply saying what you have spoken about is not love. it is infact the genetical perpetuated law of attraction

 

[A teenage old man]

Love is... The bond you share with people that you will have around you for the rest of you're life. Not all of them, but those rare one's that you actually want to spend time with, the people you know that no matter how much time you spend time with them in a row, you don't get bored or awkward with. And most importantly love is the only thing that can keep you from going insane in old age, the only thing that can really keep you going.

 

[Akai Shizuku]

This is how you will feel if you are ever infected with the virus known as love. It is not worth it; all it does is cause suffering.

 

[personajasek]

i am fourteen and i have been in love several times. i have kissed, made out, and some other things im not saying... but any way love is the most beautiful emotion i have ever felt. right now i take pills to balance the chemicals in the brain so i'm not so depressed. actually all it does is keep suicide at bay. but some things are caused by chemicals but the release of those chemicals are caused by the emotions of love.

 

[Nocta-Aeterna]

-Snip-

-snip once more-

-bloody hell,snip again!-

Sorry, didn't voice it quite right. I meant that the feeling of bonding is interpreted as "love". Also, I actually see no problem in the endorphin high, it's nice, a natural bodily reaction and selling your possessions or those of others will not help in getting more. As for the mystificaion: it makes good literature (if implemented well). Not sure about the desexualisation though, desire and lust seem to be making a comeback as part of the equation, not too sure though.

 

[Gyrefalcon]

Of course there is more than 1 type of love. Love of a family member. Love of a friend. Love of a partner.

quite true, but, as is probably obvious, im referring to romantic love in this case. In the end love is just a word and depending on the context can mean any number of things. However! i digress, the word love is not to be discussed here... but the feeling of being romantically in love or attracted to someone.

Ah, I must disagree! You are NOT discussing romantic love. You are discussing Eros-passionate love.

The adage is "Romance ends where sex begins" thus old romance tales ended with the first kiss. It is a side effect of today's society that sex and romance get clumped together. They are not the same.

Moreover, sex is merely exercise if there is no love in it. With love you can feel like you are as close to touching the soul of another person as it is possible to do. Without love, it becomes a physical act that may prove uncomfortable and unpleasant.

The moment of attraction is indeed valid for your definition. A chemical reaction to what we perceive are desirable genes to keep our race going. Yet as a k-select species (long gestation, few offspring, high investment) it is important to note that humans do far better if raised by both parents. So some of this investment must also come from the male if he wishes his genes/offspring to be successful.

And there may be more validity to "it takes a village to raise a child" than we realize. Humans are a social animal, that is, we do best in groups-especially family groups who have related DNA. Having an extended network of family or close friends to help bear the costs of raising a child (physical/mental demands) can ALSO aid in providing the offspring a better chance to do well socially and reproduce in turn. Yet in other social animals such as wolves, only the alphas generally get to reproduce. So why should the rest put up with being forced to NOT follow their "instincts" as you would have it be said? Because fewer pups means more food and a better chance of survival. Pups by the most healthy, best hunters, and most socially dominant animals will also have the best fitness.

By supporting the pack they insure the family's genes survive even if they do not directly pass on their own DNA. Yet wolves also exhibit bonding rituals in shows of affection and games. So why? What purpose is "love" here? The bonding rituals helps keep the pack together so that they will all reap the benefits of having more hunters, more baby-sitters, and be able to take down larger game.

In humans, "love" may initially be a chemical, but long-term it is a choice. We still love our kids even when they ding the car, get bad grades, color on the walls. But we may not like them very much at that point! If mere attraction held us, we would not stay on to deal with the serious duties of raising the offspring we create. But again, we are k-select not r-select, failing to care for our rare (compared to hamsters and rats) offspring would be disastrous. Thus, we have developed our intellect to make up for the lack. Sex for women is known to create a stronger bond than it does for men (generally). For men it is a sign of respect, a mental choice of commitment to to stay in a relationship past the initial blush.

(This is a wiring thing due to males producing a large number of sex-cells and having a built-in desire to share them out while females are wired to produce FAR fewer and have the greater physical burden of carrying the offspring. Thus they are very cautious about what DNA they choose as well as what male will care for her and her offspring during the more difficult stages of pregnancy. Mind you, this came about long ago when humans had more difficult things to worry about in order to survive than tax forms.)

And in the end, you can not easily separate the chemical cause from the emotional effects. Knowing how the body reacts to a cut does not keep it from hurting. Likewise, understanding that chemicals in the brain cause "love at first sight" does not lessen the impact! It is one thing to intellectually understand something but it is another to experience it. And no amount of study can take the place of that.
(lol, I ramble extra when I'm tired. But the exercise was fun.)

 

[Borrowed Time]

Hebrew words for love:

ahab - spontaneous, impulsive love.
hesed - deliberate choice of affection and kindness.
raham - to have compassion, brotherly love

Greek words for love:

eros - sexual, sensual, impulsive love
philia - love for friend, spouse or children
agape - unconditional love, "how God loves us"

The English word for love does not do the concept justice. Humanity, especially when dealing with our linguistic ways of communication, regularly seems to have a difficult time understanding context. English is incredibly representative of this. (which is unfortunate that I only speak english, oh and bad english but who'se counting) A "catch-all" word is easily misinterpreted and can mean many different things to many different people.

The type of "love" that many younger individuals here have listed to me, is in fact infatuation. I know that my personal experiences do not match their own, but scientifically speaking, maturity is gained through age and experience. True understanding of love in a sense of "true love" and not a "hormone raging love" is something that is learned over a period of time. As was stated before, "true love" is in fact a choice. Unconditional love does exist, though it is rare anymore because of the throw away choices individuals are so quick to make.

Many people are now willfully ignorant of consequences when dealing with not only love, but living in and of itself. As much as sex and sensuality plays a part in romantic love, it has been trivialized in many ways. It has been reverted to a proverbial "nose blowing" in this day and age. It is just another bodily function devoid of emotion and the like to so many people.

Sex and the like, exists in this state for far too many now. Instead of a deep, emotional and physical bond between two monogamous individuals who have pledged their lives to each other, it has been a victim of desensitizing.

Jealousy, as much as it is a bio-chemical reaction, as long as taken to a realistic degree, is in fact a good trait. It not only helps only our own genes to mix with our chosen mates, but also shows our devotion to the individual. I find satisfaction in the fact when my wife stares down a woman she percieves is flirting with me (since I'm completely dense to any of that, don't ask >_<) as well as I know she finds satisfaction that I do the same when another guy is making passes at her. It is a showing of our devotion to one another and our interest in one another. It goes beyond our bio-chemical reactions.

Ok, this rambling has gone too far and I really shouldn't let my fingers do the typing for me instead of my brain when I'm tired.