What is Love?

I hope this question hasn't been asked before (I tried searching for it and didn't see it). I'm askaing this as a question for you, and what it means to you. Be as descriptive or vague as you want (within the forum rules) and let's heat what you have to say. Since this is an abstract concept I thought it would go best here (in this section of the forum).

Love means differnt things to differnt people... so here are some questions you can answer or talk about what it is to you

- what is love to you?
- have you really found love if the other person doesn't feel the same way (if they do not have their sense of love in a relationship with you)? If not, can one say they have every loved unless they have met that special someone?
- if you think you have the special someone but break up, was it really love?
- is love socially contstructed (is it just a pretty word or do other life forms love)?
- if you unconditionally love someone, and they don't return your love - is it really unconditional?
- is love something significant and meaningful or just a nice labell for finding someone who works well with you?

K

wow... no one is thinking about this abstractly?

I guess I came to the wrong forum...

LovesjoyAJM has the best definition. Ask her.

What is love? Baby don't hurt me. Don't hurt me... No more...

Girls on film?

Love is just a word. What matters is the meaning you attach to the word.

It's a chemical reaction (shit there goes the romance):

Scientists say they have discovered what happens in the brain when someone falls in love.

They studied chemical reactions in men and women who were all in the early stages of relationships.

Research, published by the Society for Neuroscience, found activity in areas of the brain which are linked to energy and elation.

But scans found women's brains showed emotional responses, while men's showed activity linked to sexual arousal.

Researchers took functional magnetic resonance imaging (fMRI) scans of the brains of 17 young men and women to see what was happening in the brain of someone in love.

They were alternately shown a photo of someone they loved and one of someone they knew, but were emotionally neutral towards.

In between, they were given a task to distract them from their emotional responses to the photos.

They found that feelings of intensive romantic love were linked to activity in the right caudate nucleus and right ventral tegmental areadopamine, which have high levels of dopamine activity.

[url]http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/health/3261309.stm[/url]

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Originally Posted by Sphere_68 [Dear Guest/Member you have to reply to see the link.click here to register]

- what is love to you?
- have you really found love if the other person doesn't feel the same way (if they do not have their sense of love in a relationship with you)? If not, can one say they have every loved unless they have met that special someone?
- if you think you have the special someone but break up, was it really love?
- is love socially contstructed (is it just a pretty word or do other life forms love)?
- if you unconditionally love someone, and they don't return your love - is it really unconditional?
- is love something significant and meaningful or just a nice labell for finding someone who works well with you?

K

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I'm going to answer these out of order:

Unconditional love is when you love someone regardless of how they feel about you. You want what's best for them even if they don't feel the same about you. Unconditional love is the purest. You give without needing something back.

I think there is first love, and then there is mature love. I don't believe in one person for everyone.

Sometimes even what some consider "soulmates" it ends. Just because you have found someone doesn't mean you can stop putting effort into it just because it has been better than the rest.

Love is something meaningful. I couldn't marry someone who was just a good fit for partnering purposes.

Quote From Captain Corelli's Mandolin (note it is a father speaking to his daughter here):

When you fall in love, it is a temporary madness. It erupts like an earthquake, and then it subsides. And when it subsides, you have to make a decision. You have to work out whether your roots are become so entwined together that it is inconceivable that you should ever part. Because this is what love is. Love is not breathlessness, it is not excitement, it is not the desire to mate every second of the day. It is not lying awake at night imagining that he is kissing every part of your body. No... don't blush. I am telling you some truths. For that is just being in love; which any of us can convince ourselves we are. Love itself is what is left over, when being in love has burned away. Doesn't sound very exciting, does it? But it is!

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Originally Posted by Sphere_68 [Dear Guest/Member you have to reply to see the link.click here to register]

I hope this question hasn't been asked before (I tried searching for it and didn't see it).

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You didn't search well enough. This is the most over-asked question on this forum. However since you seem sincere I'll answer your questions.

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Originally Posted by Sphere_68 [Dear Guest/Member you have to reply to see the link.click here to register]

- what is love to you?

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Your readiness to sacrifice your personal well being in favour of someone elses without any expectations of return. There are many different kinds of love, but a real unselfish love will always have the above component.

Quote:

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Originally Posted by Sphere_68 [Dear Guest/Member you have to reply to see the link.click here to register]

- have you really found love if the other person doesn't feel the same way (if they do not have their sense of love in a relationship with you)? If not, can one say they have every loved unless they have met that special someone?

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You can love someone without them loving you back, real love is not possessive or demanding or expectational.

Quote:

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Originally Posted by Sphere_68 [Dear Guest/Member you have to reply to see the link.click here to register]

- if you think you have the special someone but break up, was it really love?

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Yes it was. And you can continue loving them after the break up. You don't necessarily have to be together. AND yes, you can also love multiple people at the same time, but physically be with only one (or none).

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Originally Posted by Sphere_68 [Dear Guest/Member you have to reply to see the link.click here to register]

- is love socially contstructed (is it just a pretty word or do other life forms love)?

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Love is both socially constructed and pure emotion. The socially constructed part is the emphasis on two people being together and the duties which must be assigned to each. The pure emotional part is the interaction and chemistry between the two people. Other life forms also show love. You can look at it from evolutionary perspective if you like. Love is needed for survival of our species.

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Originally Posted by Sphere_68 [Dear Guest/Member you have to reply to see the link.click here to register]

- if you unconditionally love someone, and they don't return your love - is it really unconditional?

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Yes it is. Because it is unconditional, them returning your love is a condition.

Quote:

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Originally Posted by Sphere_68 [Dear Guest/Member you have to reply to see the link.click here to register]

- is love something significant and meaningful or just a nice labell for finding someone who works well with you?

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It is both or either or neither depending on who you ask.

I agree with a good portion of the previous msg. But, I think love might also be physiological constructed--biologically, we need another person. In that sense, it may not be pure emotion; it might also have a bit of DNA and biochemicals driving the process.