what IS love?

[House_Vet]

It's..."temporary constructs of a feeble human intellect trying desperately to justify an existence that is without meaning or purpose"

I think you're talking about "religion".

And if you honestly agree with that, then so is everything else you do with your life: pleasure-seeking, achieving goals, etc. You might as well just go and kill yourself right now. Please, do us a favor.

Ech. No need for that - don't take it personally because he hasn't felt it yet (or felt it rather too sharply - you pick). Also, a certain religion (which will remain nameless but which I rather like) has both an ethical code entirely based around love (situation ethics) and has as its 3 primary virtues 'Faith, hope and love, but the greatest of these is love.'

So stone me =P (Yes I know the irony in this statement)

EDIT: Oops - don't remember that line... may have been dozing off...

 

[solemnwar]

I think one of the best definitions of love- of all forms- is trying to imagine a world without that person and being incapable of doing so.

 

[House_Vet]

I think one of the best definitions of love- of all forms- is trying to imagine a world without that person and being incapable of doing so.

I can imagine it... I just dread it. Powerfully.

 

[Pyrokinesis]

Overused thread is overused.

Seriously though, Its a matter of perspective, its justa word after all. Love to one man might be temporary and interchangeable with the other 20 girls he is with. To another love may be the most special thing that will ever occur in his life and will most-likely only occur once. Its a word that has been used and misused far too much to hold a "correct" meaning anymore.

My answer

 

[Wuggy]

It's..."temporary constructs of a feeble human intellect trying desperately to justify an existence that is without meaning or purpose"

I think you're talking about "religion".

And if you honestly agree with that, then so is everything else you do with your life: pleasure-seeking, achieving goals, etc. You might as well just go and kill yourself right now. Please, do us a favor.

Ha ha! I see what you did there, with that religious thing. No reason to be that harsh though. He was obviously quoting something (too tired to check what). No one's real opinions are like that, and if they are they are either in a mental home or dead.

Either way, love. When you break it down it's just an chemical reaction that occurs on your brain. However, that's the technical side of it. It serves a purpose in our evolutionary development. It helps us mate and protect those who we 'love' (ie. children, kin, friends) and thus continue as a species.

If you're looking for a sentimental answer, I cannot really give you one. I can't say I've ever been in love, except for the obvious love for family. I can't describe or really even understand the feeling of (romantic) love, personally.

 

[yndsu]

Love is caring about someone and then making the decision to stay with them
and care for them and so on. It is not just chemical reactions. Actually it is
to an extent a way of living.

And lust doesnt have anything to do with love. I love my mother, but i am not
lusting after her. The same rule applies for an attractive woman on the street.
Only the other way around, as i lust for her but i dont love her.

 

[solemnwar]

I think one of the best definitions of love- of all forms- is trying to imagine a world without that person and being incapable of doing so.

I can imagine it... I just dread it. Powerfully.

Now that I think about it I think that was mentioned, too.
I really wish I could remember where I read/heard this, though.

 

[Reg5879]

It's..."temporary constructs of a feeble human intellect trying desperately to justify an existence that is without meaning or purpose"

I think you're talking about "religion".

And if you honestly agree with that, then so is everything else you do with your life: pleasure-seeking, achieving goals, etc. You might as well just go and kill yourself right now. Please, do us a favor.

Damn chill, it's just a quote from The Matrix Revolutions.

:<

I still need to see that movie.

(And I still think it's better suited to religion.)

Reading that back...yeah, it mostly points to religion. So yeah, I agree.

 

[House_Vet]

A battle with the gate ? then turn and face;
Tilt up your chin, my prize, and let me see those smiling eyes
A kiss is fire?s writhing in the snow
I dream your tongue?s reach deeper, darker grows
Though dark and deep, shy-leant and softly heard
Those parting lips are dulcet as the bird
That hunts through winter?s monotonal etch -
Your bright lips are within reach ? just stretch
And take fire, gently, softly set me right
For one brief kiss in snow, my soul?s alight.

 

[Chappy]

Eh.. I would say apart from being a chemical reaction it is an emotion only you can define for yourself as I'm certain it manifests itself in a different way for each person and someone elses feelings of love may well not be your own.

I nearly posted the lyrics to Rick Astley but I just couldn't do it in the end *blush*

 

[000Ronald]

Once upon a time, a man walked along a distant beach The LORD. As he walked, he saw many parts of his life flash by in the sky.

Eventually, the man came to the end of his life, and turned to look back. He saw that, in the hardest times of his life, there were only one set of footprints. This puzzled him, so he turned to The LORD and asked, "LORD, why is it that in my times of greatest pain, when I need You most, there are only one set of footprints in the sand? Have You abandoned me?"

The LORD said, "My son, my precious child, I love you and would never abandon you. In those times in your life where you see only one set of footprints in the sand, it was then that I carried you."

...I know the story is called, "Footprints", but I'm not sure who wrote it. It's been hanging up in my grama's living room for as long as I can remember.

 

[Infernai]

it is this

 

[dystopiaINC]

holy crap... your me but not me... story of my life right there!

haha, yeah i know, the feeling sucks, i've always been in control of how i felt and i always knew why i felt how i did, and i always knew to avoid what would make me feel bad, or take that control away. now i lost that control and gave it to a girl who has no clue she has it, she treats me like a close friend, but the things she does are just painful. her gestures of friendship would make me happy if i weren't in love with her. if she knew she wouldn't do those things, but i can't tell her, it would ruin our friendship. so i just sit there take her friendship ans suffer my own idiocy for losing control like that.

Love is when you can't help but smile when you think about them. When their every gesture just makes your life that much better. When you can tell them anything. When you trust someone so much you can let them hold your heart and know they would never think of hurting you.

Love is great. Gives you so much more than it takes.

It also does not have to be romantic love, I have all these feelings for my dog, my mom, and my girlfriend.

yes? and i'm talking about romantic love. i have dogs, and family, i know what it's like to love them. but romantic love, in my experience is exactly like what i'm saying. and that all hat i find worth writhing about now.

 

[seidlet]

love is prioritizing another person above yourself, putting forth the work to make sure another person's needs are taken care of before you even begin to address your own. warm and fuzzy feelings are just a nice bonus.

 

[Sandernista]

Love is when you can't help but smile when you think about them. When their every gesture just makes your life that much better. When you can tell them anything. When you trust someone so much you can let them hold your heart and know they would never think of hurting you.

Love is great. Gives you so much more than it takes.

It also does not have to be romantic love, I have all these feelings for my dog, my mom, and my girlfriend.

yes? and i'm talking about romantic love. i have dogs, and family, i know what it's like to love them. but romantic love, in my experience is exactly like what i'm saying. and that all hat i find worth writhing about now.

I was talking about romantic love, and also other love.

And really? When you're around the object of your affection you're in pain? How is that love?

 

[larysalove]

Love is liking someone (being emotionally attracted to them), lusting for someone (being physically attracted to someone), and trusting someone. Its giving someone else the possibility to destroy you, but trusting that they won't. Being willing to just give and give and give without wanting anything in return. Caring about someone more then you ever thought you could, more then you care about yourself.

And when you're in love... you just know. Its more than liking someone, its more than wanting someone, its more than... you just know. You can feel it.

Of course, I'm talking about romantic love. Familial or platonic love are different in some aspects.

But romantic love is wonderful. Much more so if its returned.

 

[dystopiaINC]

I was talking about romantic love, and also other love.

And really? When you're around the object of your affection you're in pain? How is that love?

to be completely honest with you, yes being with her does cause me pain. you don't really know the situation do you. if i was free to express how i feel to her and to attempt a relationship with her it wouldn't be painful to be with her at all would it? no.

when i'm with her i actually am rather happy, we're very friendly and can talk about almost anything. and if i can ignore certain things about the situation i can enjoy myself quite a bit. hell i went to Disney with her on a class trip. you know what i remember the most about the whole 4 day trip?

Spoiler

what her arm felt like when she hugged me, what her scream sounds like on a roller coaster, what her hair smelled like when i was close to her in in a crowded line. and the way her face would light up when ever i made eye contact, and how she would smile at me all the time. for those 4 days i fell in love and was in fucking heaven. it was around the third day when my senses hit me and i realized i couldn't ever tell her how i felt unless something major changed and i got an opening.

now i have to hide it from her and i have to watch her be happy with another guy, a guy i have always disliked even before i met her because he's an asshole. and being with her when i can't ignore the situation, like when she talkes about him, is very painful. the little friendly things she does can be almost heart-wrenching but i won't tell her that. it would hurt our friendship and she would feel like she had done something wrong to me, when all she did was be herself. so yes, being with the girl of my affections does cause me pain.

 

[Nieroshai]

simple question really... how do you know what love is... and if your in love?

Love = Like + Lust + Trust.

Yay! First.

Ahem, anyway, that was how my spouse described love when we first started dating.

Did you need more than that? I can expand on the theory, if you like.

Cute and witty way of saying it, but respectfully no. Love can easily exist without lust (thank GOD or I'd be guilty of mental incest), yes trust is indeed required, and liking is part of the package, but I think there's more to it. To me, love isn't a feeling. Love is a relationship. I can love someone and be insanely pissed at them. I can love someone and simply want to spend some time away. I love my family, but dammit I'm tired of their nagging and feel so much better on my own.I love my fiancee always, includng when she's being a *****. In fact, I'd say in those circumstances, no I DON'T like those people all the time. But I love them unconditionally nonetheless. Beyond "relationship," the best way I can describe love is feeling like no matter what happens and no matter what you really get out of your circumstances, love is needing that person in your life because they've become a part of who you are. Love is a relationship in that loving someone indicates that that person is necessary to you. Sex is fun but unnecessary. Liking each other isn't always possible, everyone gets mad for some reason and couples get in bitter fights all the time and during those fights they do not like each other at all. Even trust can be broken, but it's the persisting love that mends that broken trust where otherwise it would remain shattered forever. I'd quote a verse because it's relevant here, but I know I'd get trolled down the line, but there you go.

 

[tthor]

i know this is probably the 100th time, but-

&#9835;Baby don't hurt me. Don't hurt. No&#9835;

couldn't help myself

 

[Bara_no_Hime]

Cute and witty way of saying it, but respectfully no. I love my family, **snip for length and incest joke**

Except we clearly aren't talking about that kind of love. The OP is asking about being "in love" not love as a overall concept.

I stand by my definition.