What is love?

Question

What is love?

Answer 1

Throughout the history of mankind, we as a world culture have made love out to be mysterious, complex, difficult, and undefinable. It’s the subject of endless poems and literary works. There is an enormous amount of material available out there about love, a lot of it contradictory.

We’ve been given the impression that to define love is near to impossible. Maybe there’s a fear that if we define it, it would somehow be less powerful...less impactful...less exhilarating. Maybe we like the mystery of it. But is it really that complicated? Perhaps the complications surrounding love come from all “stuff” we add on to this powerful emotion. Lets drop all the baggage surrounding relationships and define what it is we are experiencing in the moment of love.

What do you feel when you love someone? If distilled down to it’s core components, what would those be? Yes, love is an emotion, a feeling, a wanting, and a “being”. We know it feels good, but what specific feelings, wantings, and beings are present when we feel love? Here are the common denominators of love...

Acceptance is labeling someone as "okay" and having no particular desire to change them. Who they are is perfectly fine with you. You pose no condition on whether you will love them or not. This is call unconditional love. When your love IS conditional, the moment they step outside your set of conditions, love evaporates.

Appreciation is one step beyond acceptance. Its when your focus is on what you like about another. We look at them and feel this sweeping appreciation for who they are, their joy, their insights, their humor, their companionship, etc. When someone says they are "in love" with another, they mean their appreciation is so enormous for this person that it consumes their every thought.

We want those we love to be happy, safe, healthy, and fulfilled. We want them to feel good in all ways, physically, mentally and emotionally.

We don’t always express our love. Love is a feeling and the expression of that feeling is separate. It’s an action. There’s a practical reason we don’t always express our love for another. It’s an issue of TIME. We only have 24 hours in a day (if you make it up that way). If the expression of love was a core ingredient to love, we would have to be stingy with who we loved, because there simply wouldn’t be enough time to demonstrate our love for everyone! If you see the distinction between the feeling and the expression, you can then love endless numbers of people.

Love expressed is when you give your attention, your time, your focus to someone. Webster defines attention as “the giving of one’s mind to something."

There are many ways in which we give our attention to another. We use our five senses. Our ears to listen. Being completely present with the one who is speaking. Our eyes, watching another, undivided attention. Tasting/smelling? (I’ll let you figure that one out). Touching, giving a hug, holding a hand, a caress, or sexual expression. How you express your love depends on the type of relationship.

Answer 2

You can look at it in so many different ways. Ask 100 people; get 100 different answers. It is hard (or impossible) to describe fully, and hard to really capture in words, so a lot of "definitions" only describe a small aspect of what it is. People often describe love with metaphors that aim to capture the essence of their favorite aspect of love. Love is a stranger in an open car that'll tempt you in and drive you far away. Love is a drug. Some say love, it is a river that drowns the tender reed. Etc. My personal take on love is rather cynical. I say it is a ancient function of the brain, a feeling that compels us to do what we are designed to do: create and protect offspring. They say love conquers all; that's nice, but in the real world, it's frequently untrue. All it really conquers is every other thought in your head that might steer you in a direction other than the one love chooses. It conquers fear. It conquers greed. It conquers good sense. I hate love because it makes me stupid; it makes me put up with a lot of strife, and hardship. It commandeers my mind, convinces me to spend money, time and energy. On the other hand, it is the best thing in the world. The people that I love are the most precious things in the world. Of all the things that make life worth living, love is, by far, the best. And it's just a worthless dirty trick that my brain is playing on me. For me, love is paradox.

Answer 3

Now that's the eternal question that people and philosophers have tried to answer for a very long time. I would imagine that this very question has been asked numerous times here on YA with a whole lot of attempts to answer what you would think should be a very simple(?) question. My guess is that this is probably one of the most misunderstood words in the human language. Adding to the confusion, there are various forms of the word "Love" - everything from "eros" (which is sexual in nature), "philia" (which is friendship love), "storge" (which is affectionate love, not sexual), and finally to "agape" (which is the form of love that Christ taught and showed). Everyone has their own opinion, but I personally believe that "agape" love is the greatest form of love. Unlike the other forms, "agape" love never dies or changes. It is also the only form of love that is completely and totally unselfish. To me, the true meaning of "love" is very simple: It is to put someone else before yourself, even to the point of death - sound familiar? Jesus himself showed the world the most profound example of love that could ever be shown by giving himself up in death for everyone else. What could possibly ever trump that kind of "love"? Not that you have to actually die to love someone, BUT to really and truly love someone, I believe you DO have to die to yourself. That is real love.

Answer 4

Try "Soul Mates and Twin Flames," Elizabeth Clare Prophet, and "Sexual Force or the Winged Dragon," O. M. Aivanhov.

Divine Love is the dynamic God-Harmony of All that really Is.

"Expecting Adam," Martha Beck, and "Men in White Apparel," Ann Ree Colton, are also good re this.

Answer 5

love is a piece of the soul the most indestructible piece its when you know theres someone out there that wants you needs you cares about you or in simplest terms love is random impossible to find because it finds you

Answer 6

A single parent working 3 jobs to provide food for their children.

Answer 7

u can't really explain what love is!! well i'll try its wen u love someone and can't get them off ur mind and no matter what they do u just love them more and more and even harder than u did before!!!!! that is what love is i guess

Answer 8

love is when we want someone to be happy, no matter what.

Answer 9

love is sincere sacrifice

Answer 10

Baby don't hurt me, don't hurt me, no more.