What is love?

[Taja Loraan]

OOC: I like to consider myself a philosopher – perhaps because I have far too much time on my hands to spare and therefore have nothing better to do than think. Consequently, I have been regarded as being depressed, negative, sadistic - what-have-you - due to approaching matters in an apathetic manner. True, I do prefer to look at things as impassively as possible so as not to appear biased in my judgements. However, I do have my opinions (though I may not always voice them), and I just wanted to clear that up. Here I am not asking you to define the meaning of the word “love” as though I don’t know myself (although that much is true) … but to tell me of your own thoughts and feelings regarding that issue.

I have spent some time trying to figure out myself, and I believe that I have achieved that to the greatest extent as is possible at the moment. Currently, I am more interested in understanding human nature, or more specifically, man’s relations with the world around him. I am using this question as a somewhat starting point, and the more responses it receives, the more concrete any “conclusion” (if there can be such) will be.

So. What is love? Or in particular, how does one differentiate love, lust, and infatuation?

I know this may sound like a very pointless request, but any feedback would be greatly appreciated. Thank-you.

[Selena Kyle]

OOC: I am the wrong person to answer this now.

Waits to see what others say.

[Leeloo Mina]

My type of person!

[amichan24]

ooh boy, something interesting...

well, i'd say that love is happiness when you're near a certain person or thing. love is not necessarily human to human - one can be in love with an emotion or something like that. it's sort of a time when everything is serene.

[JediBeldarine]

Ok.. here are my thoughts Taja.

There are two different kinds of love. There is being "in love with someone" and loving someone.

I'll define the latter first. Loving someone means that you'll go through great lengths for that person. It does not necessarily mean that it must be human. Love is a great emotional attachment to that being. It makes you feel happy when they are happy, sad when they are. I am willing to lay down my life for some people I love them so much. I love my father, my mother, and my little brother. He's the one I'd lay down my life for above all others. I love my friends, and even tell them that every day. I almost always end conversations with them with "I love you." This does not mean I am in love with them, but I feel so strongly for them and their friendship that I need to tell them -- and the only word I can think of that would suit them would be "love". I'd give up a kidney for any one of my friends. I burden myself with their problems because of my love for them. They make me happy when I talk to them on the phone, or see them in person.

I also love my animals. My kitten, DJ, is like my child. I don't know what I'd do without her. She's staying at home for the next week while I finish up with finals, and my heart is breaking. I can't stand to be without her for that long. I love my great danes at home, and I've loved each and every single one of my pets. They are not animals to me, they are my family. I have actually cried harder when my last dog died than I did for my distant relatives. That's love. Love is honestly caring enough for someone that their emotions are yours.

Now, being in love is something totally different. Being in love is something I can't describe. It's this feeling deep within your soul that burns inside you. It's knowing that your boyfriend/husband/wife/girlfriend is also your best friend. You know everything about each other, and look forward to seeing each other every day. My heart aches whenever I'm away from them. It means putting their happiness ahead of your own occassionally, and knowing that sometimes.. loving someone means you need to let them go. I can't describe the feeling I get, but it's like a light in the middle of a hurricane. A safe harbor for you to come home to. To know that there's ALWAYS someone there who wants to hear how your day went. It is simply enjoying that person's presence. It means you accept them for who they are, faults and all.

I've been in love a few times, and I know how to distinguish in my heart how I feel about people. There was even a time (stupidly) that I thought I'd marry a guy, I even had a ring (dumb).. But it's hard to put into words, Taja... exactly HOW I felt with those people.

Love is a feeling, deep within. Lust is something totally different. Lust is a passing thing, only interested in the physical sense. Love is emotional, deep rooted. Lust is physical and temporary.

That's all I can t hink of.. Does this make any sense? To me it does.

Jenn

(PS: I'm forwarding this to my friends.. Phil, Juan, Betsy, Dana.. I love you guys. You have been my support through so many hard times. I know I haven't been around lately, and I'm sorry. I can't think of how my life will be when we all go our seperate ways May 5th. All I know is that you guys have been my life for the past 4 years. You are each the most amazing people I have ever known. I certainly hope I know you until the day I die. I hope my kids call you their "aunts" and "uncles." I will miss your friendship terribly in the coming months, and I don't know how I'll cope with it. Even though I've been absent, the feeling that I could always walk over to your apartment has been there. We've come a long way since Broward Hall freshman year, haven't we? I would give up a kidney for any one of you guys. Phil and Betsy.. Lots of love and luck together. You two and the perfect couple, and I couldn't wish for anything more than to know you and your future children forever.

I love you guys.

[Force Master Hunter]

What is love?

To die in someone else's place, all beacuse you love them

[Selena Kyle]

Jen....That was excellent my friend.

Ok..here's a poem that was given to me, that I thought I should share that fits this thread.

It is impossible to capture in words
the feelings I have for you
They are the strongest feelings that I
have ever had about anything
yet when I try to tell you them
or try to write them to you
the words do not even begin to touch
the depths of my feelings
And though I cannot explain the essence of
these phenomenal feelings
I can tell you what I feel like when I am with you
When I am with you it is as if
I were a bird flying freely in the clear blue sky
When I am with you it is as if
I were a flower opening up my petals of life
When I am with you it is as if
I were the waves of the ocean crashing strongly
against the shore
When I am with you it is as if
I were the rainbow after the storm
proudly showing my colors
When I am with you it is as if
everything that is beautiful surrounds us
This is just a very small part of how wonderful I feel
when I am with you

Maybe the word "love" was invented to explain
the deep, all-encompassing feelings that I have for you
but somehow it is not strong enough
But since it is the best word that there is
let me tell you a thousand times
I love you more than
"LOVE"

[Damel Girte]

Love? Well... I've never been in it, so I can't say. I used to be incredibly against it when I was younger. I thought that the relationships the other kids had in middle school were so shallow, so... meaningless.

And then I came to high school, and this year I've found out that love is more. I've seen people fall in love... I've seen people in love, and it's a really beautiful thing. And I still keep that childish defensiveness about the subject, like.. "Love? Ewwww!" but secretly, deep down inside, there's a part of me that's realized that... yeah, I'm sort of lonely. And yeah... there are moments that I almost wish that I was in love, just so that I could share it with that special someone... but I also know that I'm probably not old enough yet. I don't think I'm ready yet. I guess I'm still a kid.

What is love- well, I think... when I fall- if I fall in love- it'll be like.. having one soul, only in two bodies. Like there's a part of your spirit that you share with them, and them with you, but you still retain your individuality. And you would support each other, open up new doors into other dimensions that you've never tried. Like... if you're really timid, when you fall in love, because of that person, you might be scared less.

And when you're in love, you don't have to talk. You can just walk for hours and hours in perfect silence, and understand each other perfectly. And if you see something wonderful, like the way the stars are, it's like you just realized it, and then you try to share that world with them. And they understand it. Because they're in the same world.

Like Ami said, it doesn't have to be between a boy and a girl, romantic stuff like that.. you can fall in love with ideas, words, poems, music, sunsets, stars, days... just about anything. You can love your friends. If they move something inside you, stir something inside you, and make you never want to let them go, I think that's love. That's the kind of love I've had a lot.

Love is, I think, the greatest bond... it's one that you would be willing to die for. If you're willing to die for your friends... that's love. That is the greatest love of all.

I think love is something that's not really describable in words, pictures, or anything else... it's got to be felt to be understood. And I know I have a long way to go in understanding it, but I've got a long time yet to go.

[Dark Lord Dyzm]

OOC:
To Die for the One You Love...

Thats Good and All, but I'm also quite willing to die for my country, love is different.
Most of the world uses the word love to freely. I love Pizza, I love Jones Soda, etc etc. Love is deaper then that, Love is LOVE. No Other Way to explain it. When your in love, things just click together. Its the total commitment to someone else, not just for the day, or a hour, but all 100% of the Day.
Its 2 magnets, oppositly faced, pulling each other together. Its your Soul mate, that last half of the puzzel. Sure Others Might have a dozen or so pieces. But the puzzel of life is complicated, and contains hundreds of pieces, and only your soul mate has all the pieces missing from your puzzel.

And I think 99% of all Middle School, High School couples are just bogus. You See people switching around so much. Half for Social Status, half for puppy love.

[Force Master Hunter]

Read what I said again. Dieing for one's country means nothing in the end. What I said was that you would be prepared to take the ultimate for the one you love. Sod my country, it does not deserve to have a life lost for such a hazy notion. Love is not sweetness and light people. Love can hurt . Your really in love if you can bear that hurt and come out the other side.

"The man shall leave his mother and the two shall become one. It is a profound mystery..." Paul writing to the the church. Real love means understanding what this means. Love is committment, via good and bad.It means forsaking all others. It means sacrifice.

Have I scared you off love? No? You have to realise how serious it truly is. It can not be cast off and abused.

It means more than sex, itmeans more than sharing your soul.

[Anbira Hicchoru]

Love, like pornography, cannot be measured, but I know it when I see it.

[Lady Vader]

is there any real way to describe love or what it is? I don't think so... it's just something you know deep inside... you don't need a definition, or examples, or visual aids... it's just something you know...

well, there are two types of love... to love someone or something, and to be in love... you can love someone or something easily... but to be in love is just something you know...

lol... and I know I just made absolutely no sense, but, in a way, love is the same way... it makes no sense until it "hits you"... then and only then do you understand it and know what it is...

[Ryla Relvinian]

Love is.

[Ruben Drail Jr]

Love cannot be described or put into words..

[T Utena]

Wow. So many people have given such great answers, I don't think I can really even match them, as I have never really been in love. But I think love is a term . . . that's so hard to describe, so hard to understand unless you've felt it. I love my family. To me, this means being willing to do things for them, help them out, my little brother is my best friend. I spend a lot of my time in the day with him, and we get along pretty well, for siblings.

Being in love, as was said before is something completely different. Something hard for me to grasp, but I think it means just loving the time you spend with that special someone. Wanting to give yourself to them completely. There just aren't many adequate words to describe what love really is.

[Shadow Faery]

Love is an overused word...

[JediBeldarine]

I don't agree with that.

Love is only overused by those who do not understand what love is. I say it when I mean it, and thus I feel I never overuse the word "love."

I don't think it's possible in my eyes to use that word too much. If you tell the people you love that every day, look at how much happier you make them. Just by saying three simple words.

You cannot believe my friends responses when I emailed them this. All because I honestly showed how much I love them after four long years. I was amazing, and it made me cry.

To know that they loved me as much as I love them. That's an amazing feeling.

[Damel Girte]

Yeah. It's amazing what can happen if you let people know...

A few weeks ago, I did something I've been meaning to do for a long time. I told my friends that they were my heroes, because they are. Nearly all of them are older than me; they have such great spirits, hearts, talents... I really admired them, wanted to be like them- and I finally told them that.

And I was really surprised at what I got back. And I learned that if you open up enough, even in writing, you can make people cry... you can touch them so much in that way. And I wish I had realized this earlier.

Love can be overused as a term, love can be trivialized by those that don't understand it... but love is still a deep and beautiful thing. I don't think I can say anything better than what you all said before, but... love, whatever it is, is still incredibly beautiful, and I sure wouldn't mind finding it someday when I grow up.

[Taja Loraan]

I can't put things any better into mere words than already has been done here. Love, like all these .. is but a word. Words - a combination of letters and sounds that have been designated meaning. Words can hurt, words can heal. Love makes a person happy .. but what is "happiness"? To be happy is to be pleased, content. But different people have different interpretations of this one word, whether it be as romantic frolicking or a sadistic glee.

Love, too, is another word often misunderstood and absently sought. In my eyes, the greatest bond is between mother and child, inseparable. Yet why? This fascination with birth and creation .. one of the few things science has not managed to tear apart brutally into cold, hard fact. For no matter how great the progress in technology, man's emotions and thoughts can never be simplified into a chemical equation. Some things are just meant to be. As Ryla said ... love is.

People seek a love, a “soul-mate”. Someone with whom to pass their years, to grow old with. But how does one realize if they are truly “in love”? Many attach themselves to others in hopes that they are “the one”. It is in our nature to cling, to force ourselves into believing that which cannot be. Perhaps, sometimes, it IS true. And if it is, how do we know?

Up until very recently, I never really believed in love. I always considered it very superficial and shallow, based on what I had seen (in the way of high school relationships and whatnot). I used to believe that true love was almost completely nonexistent nowadays, and I wondered if it ever existed in the first place. True, love cannot be defined. Being in love does indeed mean sacrifice. I think Damel very nicely summed up romance in the practical sense .. the other person doesn't question who you are. They understand you, they can accept who you are .. as a person, and not just one of your faces. You connect. In my case ... the person saved me.

Love, an overused word? Yes, it can be that way, but like Bel said .. not when it's "real". And people have very different opinions on what this real, true love is, and that's what I was trying to find out: different views. I, too, don't believe I use the word in a sense that lacks purpose. Yes, it's amazing what impact voicing those feelings through words, either orally or in writing, can have.

The reason I never really agreed with love was because of how often it is confused with lust and infatuation. I doubted that people were aware of what "love" itself really meant (not that I myself can give it a concrete definition – no one can) but that differs between individuals, and I've realized I was wrong. However, this misunderstanding of the term still continues, and I just wish people would stop lying to themselves.

Sacrifice. That is very true. Whether you love a person or are in love with them .. you put them before your own self. Although honesty and integrity are very important in a relationship … sometimes you have to lie in order to make THEM happy, if you truly love that person. And then, no matter how much it hurts you inside .. you’ll be happy to know that in spite of the way you yourself feel .. that the person you love is happy. That in itself is enough.

[Evil Hobgoblin]

Taja: !!!! A philosopher !!!! Have you got a moment? If so, please go to
pub32.ezboard.com/bpierce...somegabase (http://pub32.ezboard.com/bpiercetondrysomegabase)
and post at the PR Level Forum, please.

The reason I make this request is so that I can let you in to one of the locked forums so that we can discuss this subject. I would like to share my thoughts, but keep them private from the masses at the same time.