What is Love?

[yukinon]

hm...how do you feel that idea can be played out in everyday life and relationships, Lochaber?

And you're right, there are many definitions (or connotations) of the word love. I think few people understand the true concept. The word has become cheap, but that doesn't mean the concept is.

If that made any sense at all.

[steelbeliever]

the word is often short-changed...but i think emotional love is always the same...you cannot deny the "feeling" of love i think...you an hide it or call it something else...Hatred...lust...passion...sacrifice...but it still boils down to that original word...love...i think that the word itself is overused though...i totally agree with yukinon and lochaber...in my mind...scary...love is a meaningless word...i can't ever tell a person how much i "love" them...but in my mind...or whatever...i know i do...love is becoming hard to show nowadays...

[yukinon]

Maybe it should be truly, honestly, and selflessly shown as often as it is talked about.

Real love, of any sort-family, friendship, romance-is hard to find, but worth every second, every effort, and every wound once you get there.

(I'll give someone a cookie if they can figure out what the second part of my sig says. ^^; )

[SP1]

Willingness to make personal sacrifice for the benefit of the person being loved. At least, this is the test I apply when I am questioning how I feel about someone. This can be done on a lot of levels, so there are some people who you might make some small sacrifice for, but not necessarily want them in your living room.

[Lochaber Axe]

hm...how do you feel that idea can be played out in everyday life and relationships, Lochaber?

And you're right, there are many definitions (or connotations) of the word love. I think few people understand the true concept. The word has become cheap, but that doesn't mean the concept is.

If that made any sense at all.

Mostly I've probably missed my rebuttal but oh well...

That question can be answered with another question, "What will happen if we don't sacrifice in our everday life and relationships?"

Even gold will become contaminated and cheapen, and so it is then melted to get rid of the impurities and reformed to what it was intended to be. That is how concepts are also. The meaning of the word is a temporary element that is continuously reworked.

[shooraijin]

so there are some people who you might make some small sacrifice for, but not necessarily want them in your living room.

Yes, I've found that indoor cattle and livestock sacrifices do tend to ruin my living room's feng shui.

[Lochaber Axe]

Yes, I've found that indoor cattle and livestock sacrifices do tend to ruin my living room's feng shui.

*Groan*

BAD SHOO!! NO DESERT TONIGHT!!

[Taka]

[quote="yukinon"](I'll give someone a cookie if they can figure out what the second part of my sig says. ^^]
I understand it. Not because I am so great at acting out love in that way, but because I recieve it from some of the neatest peopl in the world.

Real love doesn't tell what you want to hear all the time. Often times it calls out your mistakes, because to ignore them is not to love you, it is to make you feel comfortable and foster a sence that you don't need to work on anything and your "fine just the way you are". While I believe we need to love people "where they are", that does not mean be content with it, and not challenge them to grow and mature.

So, sometimes, love means being the only person out of a crowd of people you like, that will tell you the truth, when it isin't what we want to hear and won't put up with our bs.

Real love is not that feeling you get when you are enamored with your boyfriend or girlfriend. It IS a nice side affect, but that isn't the main event. The real deal is putting the other before yourself. Doing anything for them, with in the realms of honor and truth.

Sara Groves=

[Taka]

Ack, seems I have killed this thread...

[yukinon]

I understand the concept of sacrifice, Lochaber. What I'm asking is how do you feel that can be played out and demonstrated in normal day-to-day life?

[chibiphonebooth]

whats loove got to do, got to do with it? whats loveee but a second hand emooootiooonn! whats looooove got to do, got to do with it??? who needs a heart when a heart can be brookkeennnnnn

OOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOHHHHHHHHHH!!!


...*ahem* sorry. thats what the title reminded me about. that song. XD

[Ashley]

I'm very impressed all of you make a clear distinction between passion, which is that touchy-feely-lovey-dovey sort of emotion, and love. There have been many, many good answers here, and I'm quite impressed.

I love what C.S. Lewis said about love in Mere Christianity. In his chapter about marriage, I believe, he said that it would be foolish to not wish to learn how to swim so that one could hold on to the giddyness of dog-padding like a child. Love--the way the world today uses it, that nice emotional trigger--is just a sparkplug. If it goes off with someone else, then you have a chance to choose to learn to truly love them or not; it should never be mistaken for the thing that makes the engine of marriage run.

He also said, "To love is to be vulnerable," and that's true, too. I'd elaborate more, but I'll let you all ponder that one. =)

[Lochaber Axe]

Problem with "falling in love" is that you climb right out of it.

I do hope you didn't feel that I was belittling you, Yukinon. I'm sorry if my words did that affect. About my thoughts on day-to-day sacrificing, I must say I can't answer that because it is all about the event. Much like any choice, sacrificing is a mental process ("Will I take the sprinkles on my sundae or not?") that occurs between a selfish and non-selfish act, the non-selfish act being the sacrifice. As such, it is primarily a conscious entity, only a habitual sacrifice is unconscious, and would be bound by context and situation.

In other words... *Shrug* I really couldn't tell you entirely.

Even with saying that, I have partly answered it with the how habitual sacrifice aspect. If you obtain that ability for your mate, then you could call that "true love", though it is cheapened slightly by the spector of tedium.

Obtaining a self-sacrificial mentality is incredibly hard, and every person will find a different way to do it. Sometimes one must completely overhaul their thoughts and emotions and others find it natural. It is difficult either way, because you are fighting the flesh.

That is why I believe that abstinence is "true love" because you are sacrificing the flesh, thus glorifing God and the significant other. Now... if anybody understood my circumnavigation.

[yukinon]

The expression "falling in love" is a tricky one. I've been thinking about that lately, how to describe the slow, sweet, sometimes rocky journey of growth that I've found myself on. There's a reality to it, but there's also a magic. I'm not so sure they have to be seperated. Beauty can be found in the everyday. I'm just not so sure if the phrase "falling in love" is even appropriate.

I didn't feel that you were belittling me at all, Lochaber. If anything, I felt that I wasn't clear in my questioning. And I'm just being insistent and prodding because you sparked my interest.

I simply pursue the subject because it is easy to think of big, important instances of self-sacrifice, such as literally sacrificing your life for another. I'm curious how the same concept can be carried out in day-to-day life. Is it giving him a ride when his truck is in the shop? Is it letting him pay for your dinner because you know he really wants to? Is it helping him destress before the opening night of the play?

I can't really see habitual sacrifice becoming tedious, and if so, isn't the tedium just another aspect of the sacrifice being made?

[Fireproof]

I think this Futurama quote should cover things nicely.

Zoidberg: When one cares about a female for reasons beyond mating, is that what you humans call "Love?"
Fry: Nope. Must just be some weird alien emotion.

[Taka]

He also said, "To love is to be vulnerable," and that's true, too. I'd elaborate more, but I'll let you all ponder that one. =)

[I]To love at all is to be vulnerable. Love anything, and your heart will certainly be wrung and possibly be broken. If you want to make sure of keeping it intact, you must give your heart to no one, not even to an animal. Wrap it carefully round with hobbies and little luxuries, avoid all entanglements, lock it up safe in the casket or coffin or selfishness. But in that casket safe, dark, motionless, airless it will change. It will not be broken]

Yes, I know what you are talking about Ashley.

Self sacrifice is just saying putting the others best intrest above what you want. It is all of what you said Yukie. It isin't a HUGE SELF SACRIFICING EVENT. It is the small day to day. It is the ride when it isin't the most convient thing for you to do. It is destressing. It is also not letting them get away with crap and calling them on it. It doesn't benifit us to do it, so that is sacrifice as well.

That is why I believe that abstinence is "true love" because you are sacrificing the flesh, thus glorifing God and the significant other.

My word that is so true. That is the first thing I thought of when you said that, actualy. But then I thought I was strange for thinking it, but I'm glad you did say it in the end of your post. I am experiencing this and having to live it out and make that decision again and again.

[AnimeLoverLaura]

Love never fails, it always prevails!!! It can't fail because God is love, and he is infallible.

[agasfas]

Love is caring more for someone else than yourself.

I agree.

To me, Love is also unexplainable.... We feel it, but it's something so powerful that trying to express what "love" is in words doesn't do it much justice.

[heero yuy 95]

I'd say it all boils down to this:
http://ckjcwf.ytmnd.com/
And maybe a little of this:
http://qasia.ytmnd.com/

[jon0]

Love is sacrificing for another. love is an act of will.