Love....or was it the Idea of begin in love.

[Solid Ronin]

What do ya'll think love is???I think I know but am curious.

[Azier the Swordsman]

Wait till you fall in love. Then find out.

[Solid Ronin]

Wait till you fall in love. Then find out.

Not the answer I was lookingfor.

I have not intentions of falling in love.

[water-bearer]

I think what Azier was saying is that it isn't something that you can just give a flat out definition to, but I could be wrong ^.^;;

[ZiP]

*ZiP grins stupidly*

i have no clue what love is, but i know only fools rush in, although, i cant help sometimes, falling in love... with me...

[true_noir_chloe]

Read I Corinthians 13:4-13 It starts out "Love is..."

If you want to know what it feels like to know when you are in love with someone of the opposite sex, then that will come after you know how to love.

Love starts with God, btw - your love for God. ~-^ I'll answer further when I have more time, if you want more of an answer.

[water-bearer]

Kudos go to true_noir_chloe for that answer. We did Corinthians in Bible Bowl a few years ago. 13 is a really good chapter.

[c-girl]

I never really thought of it until this thread. >"<

[Lehn]

*ZiP grins stupidly*

i have no clue what love is, but i know only fools rush in, although, i cant help sometimes, falling in love... with me...

*cough*conceitedmuch?*cough*

But back to the topic..... Love is an emotion. Impossible to define and even more impossible to explain.

[Solid Ronin]

*cough*conceitedmuch?!*cough*

But back to the topic..... Love is an emotion. Impossible to define and even more impossible to explain.

Love is not an emotion..if it were Love would be meaningless.

[Zilch]

Love is something paraphysical, something that can't be explained. It never will be. All that can be said is that it delves to the very innermost part of a human and draws out something beautiful.

[Htom Sirveaux]

It's confusing and perfectly clear. It's wonderful and painful. Like Zilch said, it can't really be summed up in words. You just know and that's enough. Til then, just forget about it and go watch some anime.

[TheMelodyMaker]

Love is unselfishly looking out for the needs of somebody else. Whether you feel like it or not! *nods firmly*

[Mangafanatic]

Not the answer I was lookingfor.

I have not intentions of falling in love.

Nor do any of us. . . that's how it sneaks up on you. And after that it grabs and drags you in, kicking and screaming and throwing rose pedals all over the place.

There's nothing terrible about falling in love. Afterall, the desire to fall in love is God given, and, if it's in God's will for your life, it's one he delights in fulfilling. (Consider for example how God provided Eve for Adam in the garden.)

Love is not just an idea.

You mentioned Ronin that love is not an emotion. This is both true and false. It's true because real love does not just depend on the "warm fuzzies". It's not just about feeling an attraction to a person-- it's about wanting the best there is for another person and being willing to sacrifice everything you are for the good of that person. Your statement is false, though, in the fact that there are emotions attachted to this committment. Love from a parent to his child will often be accompanied by pride(good pride) which is an emotion. Love also produces happiness, and love in and of itself does have emotional qualities. As everyone else has said-- this is impossible to describe, but, trust me, you'll know what I mean when it happens. There are emtions attached to love, btu the emtion its self does not sustain a loving relationship. Only a true sacrificial, I-care-for-you-even-when-I-don't-feel-it-because-Christ-cares-for-you, love will last.

Well, there's my 2 cents.

[Mave]

I've always thought love as a verb and a choice ppl make everyday, rather than an emotion. God commanded us to love, not fall in love. So like some have said, whether you feel like it, you can still love someone. If love was based on emotions, we can't love our enemies or ppl we'd rather not like.

[EireWolf]

You mentioned Ronin that love is not an emotion. This is both true and false. It's true because real love does not just depend on the "warm fuzzies". It's not just about feeling an attraction to a person-- it's about wanting the best there is for another person and being willing to sacrifice everything you are for the good of that person. Your statement is false, though, in the fact that there are emotions attachted to this committment. Love from a parent to his child will often be accompanied by pride(good pride) which is an emotion. Love also produces happiness, and love in and of itself does have emotional qualities. As everyone else has said-- this is impossible to describe, but, trust me, you'll know what I mean when it happens. There are emtions attached to love, btu the emtion its self does not sustain a loving relationship. Only a true sacrificial, I-care-for-you-even-when-I-don't-feel-it-because-Christ-cares-for-you, love will last.

Yeah, what she said.

If you just "fall in love," you could fall right out again. Love is a choice. But yes, it does often have emotions attached... and not always warm fuzzy happy ones. There is pain as well. But the good far outweighs the potential negative.

[kaji]

In order for me to answer this question, you must first specify which type of ‘love’ you are referring to. And also what part of love you wish to have defined.

Example Types:

Family Love, as like a mother for her child.

Friend Love, as like that between your self and some members of this Board.

Romantic Love, as might be involved with a significant other.

Unconditional Love, as that which Christ shows us.


Example Parts:

Showing Love

Receiving Love

‘Falling in Love’

[RoyalWing]

Love is caring for someone more than you care for yourself.

[The Mad Hatter]

well, according to the greeks, you have a few types. there's philia, which is like brotherly love, then you have agape, god's love, eros (romantic love), and finally storge, which is the love of a parent for a child.

I see love more as a strong spiritual connection. this goes for all forms, whether it's platonic, romantic, or anything else.

[Xavier249]

Love is all you guys have said and more.

Simply put, there are many kinds of love.

Not so simply:

I Corinthians 13:4-13 is a good place to start.

4Love is patient, love is kind. It does not envy, it does not boast, it is not proud. 5It is not rude, it is not self-seeking, it is not easily angered, it keeps no record of wrongs. 6Love does not delight in evil but rejoices with the truth. 7It always protects, always trusts, always hopes, always perseveres.
8Love never fails. But where there are prophecies, they will cease; where there are tongues, they will be stilled; where there is knowledge, it will pass away. 9For we know in part and we prophesy in part, 10but when perfection comes, the imperfect disappears. 11When I was a child, I talked like a child, I thought like a child, I reasoned like a child. When I became a man, I put childish ways behind me. 12Now we see but a poor reflection as in a mirror; then we shall see face to face. Now I know in part; then I shall know fully, even as I am fully known.
13And now these three remain: faith, hope and love. But the greatest of these is love.

Basically, love there is a kind of perfection in virtue.

There are 4 Greek basics
:philia which is best described as brotherly love
:agape The willingness to lay ones life on the line for another. God's love
:eros romantic love in a good sense, not erotic.
:storge The filial love of parent and child
They don't help much as to what love is though, they just classify love.

C.S. Lewis Defines love multiple ways too, but they are all too similar to the greek ones above.

We all have free will don't we?
You can't love without giving something(time, self, etc.).
Therefore, love is something you give, right?

Close, I think. (I am missing something key.. .) I have to be careful at this point as not to confuse the types of love. *digs up quote*

"Love, real love, is caring as much for the needs of another person as you would instinctively for yourself" ~sorry lost the author.

Emotions are an expression of love, before they can come along in the form of love, as opposed to likes, a decision to love must be made.

Likes, I think of along the lines of pizza. You like pizza right?
Why? It tastes/smells good, but thats all. You haven't made some commitment to never leave it and to protect it from anything. It only pleases the senses. That is not complete love, it is "like."
Key point, like and love are different.

Hmm... I think I have mixed something up somewhere. . .

I think what I am trying to get out is that emotions are merely temporal, if that is all love is, then I worry.

okay I'll take a final stab at this.

Love is like a cake. Emotions are the frosting. You rarely see a cake without frosting, but some lack emotions/frosting like my angel food cake. Sure we all like to have frosting(theoretically) and the more the better, but it is not what makes the cake what it is, rather both do together.
(Please don't bring up cheesecake and such. All allegories fall short.)

Love wa dare desu ka God is.

Confuses self too much. . . Will get back to you on this topic. PLEASE someone pick this apart, I have no clue what went wrong.. . except being too tired.

[JediSonic]

Wow, Xavier... that was like really in-depth XD I like the cake analogy. I wish it was a pie analogy.

Anyway I think people here have pretty much already said anything I could have said, so, um, yeah.

[Bobtheduck]

Love is not an emotion..if it were Love would be meaningless.

Is anger meaningless? Is Happiness meaningless?

Although, the point stands... We use the word Love to describe too many different things. There is Love as in I Corinthians 13 (thanks Chloe); there is "love" that you feel towards friends (Phileo) which is definately a feeling; there is love that people feel "romantically" that is a feeling, yes. There is "love" which is the action of positive touch, contact which everyone needs in some form. There is compassion which is pity that leads to change and action. Our pathetic English word covers a lot of territory.

BTW: Cheesecake, to me, is WORTHLESS without the crust, so I think the analogy still applies.

[shooraijin]

(minor OT: wasn't there a Pink Floyd song with the lyrics "Was it love/Or was it the idea of being in love"? I think that's "One Slip" from Momentary Lapse of Reason.)

[ssj2gohan61]

ahh ive recently found love... i even used to say the same exact thing you said ronin with no intention of falling in love well i didnt intend on it... it just sorta happend and i still cannot explain it but it feels pretty good i must say im more happy then usual

[Ren_sama]

love? what is this...love...you speak of? I know of, the Love of God, I hope everyone here does too, but on the love between two people. . .well, I don't know squat about that. . .XD

[Solid Ronin]

(minor OT: wasn't there a Pink Floyd song with the lyrics "Was it love/Or was it the idea of being in love"? I think that's "One Slip" from Momentary Lapse of Reason.)

YES!!! I was wondering when someone would notice.Good work Shooraijin-sama

[Sieg9986]

Read I Corinthians 13:4-13 It starts out "Love is..."

If you want to know what it feels like to know when you are in love with someone of the opposite sex, then that will come after you know how to love.

Love starts with God, btw - your love for God. ~-^ I'll answer further when I have more time, if you want more of an answer.

*smiles in memory of the first time i read those verses*

[Rashiir]

I'd say first and foremost it's an action... the feelings normally associated with love are just primer so the real love can set in.

[CobaltAngel]

We talked about the defination of 'love' in my English class. Some people thought that to be loved you had to love. Some believe that love was a bond between two people. After Xavier's responce, I have very little left to say....

[Solid Ronin]

This Entire Post has been edited Because it makes no sense, I was 15 gimme a break, Therefore I ask that a mod please delete it.