This is further to a question on whether people believe in soul mates. Many don't believe in soul mates because there's no scientific proof in souls and, therefore, soul mates. What about love?
2007-08-31 06:02:26 · 19 answers · asked by teeleecee 6 in Social Science ➔ Gender Studies
I cannot believe I spelled that wrong. Sigh.
2007-08-31 06:33:06 · update #1
Yes, but...
Isn't there always a 'but?'
Don't ask me to define what love is. I cannot do it truthfully and thoroughly. I can give you a list of things it includes, touches on, justifies, things it is most certainly not. I've had love and have love. But that weird warm crazy feeling that I think most people associate with it isn't really it. But it plays a role.
Soul mates... absolutely not. Scientific data aside, the idea that there is a finite list of particular people that are potential 'spiritual love matches,' or some such, is contrary to the concept that we are mutable, improvable creatures subject to conscious and unconscious changes. We can decide to be something else than we are, individually, to a great extent. To me, that means that we are potentially anyone's soul mate, and anyone could be ours.
Of course, I've always leaned more towards free will than pre-determination.
Even still, I'm pretty sure I believe in love.
2007-08-31 08:51:17 · answer #1 · answered by eine kleine nukedmusik 6 · 1⤊ 0⤋
Well before I had my Daughter i would have said NO. but after i had my Daughter I see the good things in life. and the first time the Dr handed me my daughter. I knew right then and there that Love is real.
Now I am just going to be the best mom i can be to my daughter and when the right man comes along i will know it. and then i will have my soul mate. and yes I do believe in soul mates. they are out there you just have to wait til the right time. and when you find the one person that is right for you then that will be your soul mate. God Bless
EDIT: Flyinghorse Thank you that answer about being from a family that fights all the time it's hard to learn to love anyone. that was my problem. hard to trust and learn to let your guard down when you keep thinking they one you love will turn on you and hurt you again. Great answer all of them are really good answers.
2007-08-31 15:02:00 · answer #2 · answered by Proud Mommy 6 · 1⤊ 0⤋
If you mean love as in the sort of ethereal seemingly otherworldly thing sent from God to all us humans then no. I don't believe in the 'magic' of love if that's what you mean. Studying psychology I know some of the things that go into emotion of love. Neurotransmitters like dopamine and oxytocin give the person the feeling of being in love. I could go into how people fall in love but that would take up many pages of text to even begin to explain.
I think the common conception is that there is only one person out their in the world for 'me'. But if that were the case, then your chances would be 1 in 3 billion (roughly) of finding your significant other if you are gay/straight. They are 1 in 6 billion if you are bisexual. You might as well play the lottery with those odds.
So I guess my answer is a yes but love is nothing more than neurtransmitters in your brain (sorry just being a realist here).
2007-08-31 20:26:55 · answer #3 · answered by Fortis cadere cedere non potest 5 · 1⤊ 0⤋
Absolutely!
There are so many kinds of love too, fraternal love, romantic love, passionate love (I think it is the same as romantic love?). But love is something we learn. We learn it in a happy family, but people that were emotionally (or physically) abandoned, neglected or from a family that just fights, will have more problems learning to love.
I agree with Mantis, in which love is an action and is also a decision. Love should not be confused with lust. Lust is exciting yes, but it dies like a flame. Love stays forever, those people, even if they are not with you anymore, stay with you.
Unfortunately many are afraid of love, because love also hurts. We just get hurt if we care, the opposite of love is not hate, but indifference. What a sad life that would be, to live with indifference, but some do. They just can't love, it is like been blind, there is nothing to do about it because they can't understand.
p.s. I believe we can have several soul mates during our life or what I prefer to call, a "complice" (I don't know this last word in English, I hope is the one I wrote)
p.s. 2- Mantis, I have to tell you that I enjoy your answers very much and that you are funny too. I don't really know who you are, but thank you :-)
2007-08-31 15:09:19 · answer #4 · answered by Flyinghorse 6 · 3⤊ 0⤋
Yes, I love my wife and I love my children. I even have love for our dogs. If you are asking however if I believe that I was meant to love only one women and that I could not have fallen in love with anyone else then I would say no I do not believe in that. I believe there are many possibilities in life and somehow or another we end up taking the paths that we do, but other paths could have existed if we had chosen differently.
2007-08-31 13:22:30 · answer #5 · answered by Anonymous · 2⤊ 0⤋
There are reasons not to believe in soulmates other than "it's not scientific."
There's love and then there's love. When I was in love at sixteen years of age, I sure believed in it. When I became a father at 33, I believed in it even more, except in an entirely different way.
2007-08-31 13:09:26 · answer #6 · answered by Anonymous · 2⤊ 0⤋
Scientifically: Chemical release.
Social Science: Used to facilitate pro-creation(survival).
Philosophically: Yes, we perceive it.
Realistically: I did at one point, but not anymore... unless you want to consider people loving themselves as 'believing in love'.
Statistically: Divorce rate is over 50%, chances are against it(for the majority, and this is referring to concept of 'True Love' or 'Soul Mates', as opposed to short term love.)
2007-08-31 14:01:50 · answer #7 · answered by Nep 6 · 3⤊ 1⤋
No doubt, love is a beautiful thing. Whether it be the love of a
mother to her new born child
a pet owner as his or her dog perks up its ears
a newly introduced couple, exploring eachother (mentally and sexually)
a married couple with all the bickering and annoyances that comes with living with someone for years
a person towards his or her ideal
love comes in all kinds of different forms, but it undoubtable exist.
hope that wasnt to corny ;)
2007-08-31 13:32:44 · answer #8 · answered by Mike 3 · 2⤊ 0⤋
I believe in love. I find it humorous though when a person encounters a bad or a few bad situations in a relationship that they turn to hatred over love and claim that love doesn't exist, or it doesn't work for them etc., etc.
2007-08-31 13:11:21 · answer #9 · answered by tercentenary98 6 · 1⤊ 0⤋
l.o.v.e. is Lame overwhelming vanishing emotions.
ofcourse it exists but are you talking about head over heals love or are you talking about crush, are you talking about affair tempting seductive love or are you talking about sweet harmonious friendly friend-parents-brother-sister-pet-passion love..
I believe in all of them. Love is nothing but a verbal representation of wide range of emotions felt in different ways at different times. Whether u belive in em or not, does not matter bcoz you cant deny the very existence of these feelings and emotions..
2007-08-31 15:27:41 · answer #10 · answered by AndyG 1 · 1⤊ 0⤋