What is 'LOVE'?

Question

Love is perceived in different ways...what is the best definition of love?

Answer 1

Nobody knows what it is but some (lucky) people can feel it.

Answer 2

A long time ago I thought that love was something that you reserved for some special set of people that you had judged worthy of it.

After a while I got to thinking about what Jesus had said about turning the other cheek and loving our neighbor I put the two together and realized that he had made no exceptions in these statements. It became obvious to me that he intended that we exclude no one from the love that we are supposed to be giving. I started thinking about my idea of love and suddenly realized that I had not been loving anyone at all. I had simply been judging everyone and every thing.

Judging someone worthy of love is not love, it is only judgment. I actually started to cry when I realized this. I saw just how much of my life I had wasted being judgmental, thinking of myself as a Christian, when I was actually doing just the opposite of what Jesus had asked us to do.

I thought about the verse judge not lest ye be judged, and I understood it for the first time.

I realized that I have a lot of catching up to do. So many opportunities were wasted. I now try to apply the love that I have for the world in a universal way like Jesus asks us to do.

If I start to feel afraid and think that I see someone that I should not love because of something I have thought or heard I try to catch my mistake as soon as possible. I tell myself that I have forgot the truth and have fallen for the same old trick that had cost me so many opportunities to be loving in the past. The horror of this realization is often all that is necessary to bring me back to my senses and make me drop the judgmental nonsense I was thinking.

I still have a lot to learn about love, but at least I’m making progress.

Love and blessings

Your brother
don

Answer 3

Caring so much for a person that you would do anything within reason for that person. (I say within reason because we can't walk on water and we can't climb the highest mountain) But there are also different kinds of love. I love my friends, but all in different ways. There are a select few I would give my life for, and others I would just fight for. But none of them come before my husband. My husband, well, I would do pretty much anything I possible could for him. And when I have a child, well I'll probably think I can walk on water for them. ( I don't want to say they'll neccassarily come before my husband, but I know they are an unconditional love, while things down the road may happen between me and my husband) Love I think, is caring for a person, more than you care about yourself. And the more you care about them more than you do yourself, the greater the love. And I do believe, the love between a parent and a child is the greatest love there is.

Answer 4

Love is both an act (not the sex act) and a feeling (emotion). If you want to really understand love go to the nearest hospital maternity ward and day care center and observe the newborns and 2-3 year olds. Then recall a mother nursing her few weeks old child and disciplining her 2-3 year old child. There is involved in both, love as a feeling and as an act. Reflect on what Christ said about children, "Of such is the kingdom of God." And then realize God is Love!

Answer 5

I'm from a math/comp sci/science background. To me, love is like a catalyst. In an individual, love is the mechanism that causes them to assign different weights to different ideas. I would also say that love and hate are in a way the same emotion. Love is the side of that emotion that leads toward matching your goals/parameters. Hate is the side of that emotion that isn't necessarily the opposite of your goals, its just not as good a match as something on the love side of that .. string of love/hate.

In terms of computer science, I would say love isn't much more than a weighted tagging system. Amazon.com has one, you could look at it and see how people's love/hate is reflected in how they tag individually, and as a whole.

They would need some improved searching tools for us to get a deeper understanding of all that collected tag data/love I think.

This also sort of assumes a universe that is based on cause and effect. Where given set A and catalyst B you will always get result C.

Answer 6

I think it's the giving of yourself for the benefit of another (whether an act, a kiss, a sacrifice, a gesture...) Not to be confused with romance, which is sometimes an inward, selfish want of one's attention or company, but ultimately used as a means to find love.

Answer 7

Love is what makes the world go around. Love is tingly feeling inside where you get butterflies and you want to spend enteriy with that one speical person whom you love. Love is worth sacrifcing yourself for if you truly love that person. Take Titnaic for example. Rose and Jack loved each other and it ended up bad, that is a true example of love.

Answer 8

The word Love is from Old English lufu, connected with Sanskrit lubh, 'to desire' and Latin lubere, 'to please'.Love is a strong liking for someone. It's a strong passionate affection for another person.

Answer 9

how old are you? do you have children? If so you must have some idea what love is. If not, wait until you do. Love is seeing your children born and holding them for the first time. Watching them grow up and start families of their own

Answer 10

I think true love is a once in a lifetime feeling. You feel it for a person you really care for and you can only feel it once. It makes you do anything for the person whom you love.

Answer 11

The force that holds the universe together and lives inside us all