What and why is Love ?

Question

I don't just mean romantic love ... but it's ok too.

Wow, so many good, even profound, answers. I'm going to leave this question open as long as I can ... because I am learning from You ... and then I'll probably let it go to a vote. Thanks to all.

Answer 1

Love is the triumph of imagination over intelligence.
H. L. Mencken (1880 - 1956)

Love is the difficult realization that something other than oneself is real.
Iris Murdoch (1919 - 1999)

Love is, above all else, the gift of oneself.
Jean Anouilh (1910 - 1987)

Love is an irresistible desire to be irresistibly desired.
Robert Frost (1874 - 1963)

Love is a lot of things... I don't know why... But I love love, and I am glad it is...

Answer 2

I think love is having someone you care about at least as much as you do about yourself - and more likely more. The model perhaps is the love of a mother for a child (though fathers can feel it too; and both almost regardless of the child's nature). The "why" is more difficult. It may have something to do with chemistry, or with the assurance of reciprocation (kids are so unconditioned, and forgiving!). I fell in love across the proverbial crowded room when young, and remained besotted for decades. In late middle age alone with my children, I met a lady I merely liked very much, and have come to love her increasingly deeply year by year for 25 years - the best of our lives, we agree, despite disasters. Now can't imagine living without her. So you know "what" when you feel it, whatever form it takes; but you only truly learn "why" over time, and maybe it's different with age and time too. Romantic love can be an illusion, born of self-ignorance and projection. But not always.

Answer 3

What and why is life? Hope I'm not being too dramatic. And god I realize I may sound like I'm saying those sappy lines from the romance movies. But I dont mean just romantic love. I mean could we really live without love? What would remedy us through the bad times? Because the best thing in my life is my family, friends and loved ones. And well, love is everything and the only thing that really REALLY connects us with those people we care about. I think that's enough said, but really love is made of the best things in life, trust, honesty, faith...and well doesnt it make sense that it should be the best thing in our life too? Or in some sense our life.(hope I actually answered something related to your question. heh.)

Answer 4

I will repeat something that I read that I thought that describes it best. It is something I look back on sometimes.It has a lot of truth.

What?
"Love is patient, love is kind and is not jealous; love does not brag and is not arrogant, does not act unbecomingly; it does not seek its own, is not provoked, does not take into account a wrong suffered, does not rejoice in the unrighteousness, but rejoices in the truth; bears all things, believes all things, hopes all things, endures all things. Love never fails."

Why? Because we are human, and we all have a gap that needs to be filled.

Answer 5

(Please, copy this and send it to everyone you know)

Dear Uncle Sam,



I am writing you today to thank you
for all the good deeds
you do for us Americans, such as
taking our hard earned
dollar, even though taxation is
illegal, and sending our
youth to Middle Eastern countries
to die for your
Capitalist profit. Such a noble
deed, deserves gratitude
indeed.



I would also like to thank
you for spreading good-
will around the world, the
rape of the Iraqi's at Abu
Gharib was well appreciated I am sure,
and even teaches
those savages the principles of
democracy. They may even
spread our example someday, oh
what a glorious day that
will be.



I would also like to thank you
Uncle Sam for the Patriot
Act, it amazes me that you can
protect my freedom in such
a fashion. I absolutely agree,
silence the opposition, but
let us as a country not admit
the nasty little secret of
our good ole Gitmo. It must be a
place of bountiful
bondage fun, us Americans will
joyously visit it with
great jubilee.



Thank you Uncle Sam.

I thank you for out-right borrowing
with out the intent to
return, $83 Billion dollars from
the tax payers, they
should have no problem that only
$2 Billion of the alotted
$85 Billion was actually used to
clean up the disaster in
which we created over in Iraq.



And most of all Uncle Sam,
I believe that you are a great
man, the gas pumps just echo your name.
We pay over $3.00
a gallon, while Iraqi's pay about
$0.05, thank you. As I'm
sure Exxon also loves you,
reporting thier highest sales
and profit margin in over a decade.

I have to be going now though Uncle Sam,
I'm out of words.
I've sent this to a hundreds of people,
you've been fore-
warned.



Sincerley yours,
An American Patriot.

Answer 6

Love is an intense feeling of goodwill and care towards another being, often accompanied by the desire to physically be with that being.

How's that? I think that about covers any kind of love: platonic, sexual, unrequitted, maternal or even a love for a pet.

Answer 7

I think their are different forms of love, depending on the natter of the relationship for example it is known that the must unselfish love is the one between mother and child, the other form of love between to individuals from different sex can have different forms and reasons, the simple explanation might be the attraction to something that you want to possess, but why are the people attracted to someone or something , their different reasons , sometimes because the other one is the picture of on self and this loving of the picture is another way of loving oneself, the other form is opposite people love the ones who are not at all like themselves, loving opposite picture , this people mostly don't love themselves enough, but their is seldom the case "I love you because of you" must of the time is the case "I love you because of me" but why love? , perhaps because of the continuation, then would you argue that their is also same sex love and love to the animals and things which is a good point, perhaps it is the nature of possession? but animals love tow and is love of a dog to his owner a nature of possession ? I don't think so, is love the essence of carrying on and not giving up for us and also for the animals? but what about vegetation ? do they file love as we do ?

I am afraid I asked more them I could answer, but I hope somebody else is able to answer your question

Answer 8

Well Jonnie that's a pretty deep question that man has tried to decipher since time began-God created it for all to share but no one can put a finger on the chemical=electrical synapses or explain it in a word.Love is ...............many things and all things !

Answer 9

Love is an attachment to something. Love is hormonal and sensual. Love is also a connection, a bond, and a strength for humankind and maybe objects, places, dreams, etc. We sense love by actions and internal feelings.

The study of psychology has viewed love in terms of adolescence to young adults in intimacy vs. adolescence. We love because human kind has it inherited in genes of hormones and embedded in society.

read attachment theroy, scroll down

Answer 10

Love is an emotion of intense attraction to, care for, or identification with persons, place(s) or thing(s); a desire to be close to, move and construct its object. This can include love for one's self.

However, love has several different meanings in the English language, from something that gives a little pleasure ("I loved that meal") to something that one would die for (patriotism, pair-bonding). And in contrast to the definition at the top, frequently people use the verb "love" to indicate want or desire for themselves as opposed to for another. For example: "I love ice cream," or even "I love her/him," does not refer to desiring wellness for ice cream, and it may not refer to desiring wellness for her/him, but rather to the desire for ice cream or for her/him felt by the speaker. The word also frequently indicates elevated appreciation or admiration: "I love that artist." Love can describe an intense feeling of affection, an emotion or an emotional state. In ordinary use, it usually refers to interpersonal love. As an experience usually felt by a person for another person, it is commonly considered impossible to describe. Dictionaries tend to define love as deep affection or fondness.[1] In colloquial use, according to polled opinion, the most favoured definitions of love include the words:[2]

1. life - someone or something for which you would give your life.
2. care - someone or something about which you care more than yourself.
3. friendship - favoured interpersonal associations or relationships.
4. union - a synergistic connection, as in the perfect union of two souls.
5. family - people related via common ancestry, religion, or race, etc.

The concept of love, however, is subject to debate. Some deny the existence of love, calling it a recently invented abstraction. Moreover, approximately 13 percent of cultures reportedly have no word for love.[3] Others maintain that love exists but is undefinable; being a quantity which is spiritual, metaphysical, or philosophical in nature, etc. Perhaps due to its emotional primacy, love is one of the most common themes in art.