Debate Q3: In your opinion, what is love?

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"In your opinion, what is love?"

Before anybody else says it, I understand that there are numeroud 'forms' of love...parental love, the love between family (other than parental), love in a relationship, the love of a pet, the love of a way of life...the love of life itself. (etc, etc) But please feel free to comment on any form of love that you wish to offer your opinion on...

Peace.
 
Love to me is an emotion that humans cannot live without. It is something that we all need to survive. Without love, there really isn't any point in living. Whether it be parental love, friendship love, self love, sexual love, relationship love, etc humans need at least one of them to survive. Love keeps us going, whether it be for somebody, something, or yourself. Through harsh times, good times, and all the times inbetween humans need to have love. Take me for example, I need two types of love to survive for myself. I need both friendship love and love for myself to get anywhere.

Now humans don't have to exclusively have one love to survive. For example relationship/initmate/passionate/commitment type love. A lot of people think you do, but I beg to differ. I love myself for who I am, and I love my best friend and that's all I need to feel happy and have life be worthwhile. I don't need a lover, girlfriend, etc solely to survive. However, I do have love in my life, and that's what important. That's my two cents on love.

Doc:ramen:
 
I think love can come in forms, for instance platonic love. Love that's free from sexual desire. That's what I believe. There's the kind of love you have for your family, the kind of love you have for spouse. But my definition of love is having a strong connection with someone that goes far deeper than any other feeling. (I think) :?


Or better yet, love is more intense than any other feeling. :bluush:
 
Love can be described in a roundabout way by talking about the opposite; what is hatred, or the more colloquial hate.

Hate is repulsion. If there were exact opposite qualities in everything in the universe, then it becomes interesting.

These are known to exist in opposite pairs:

1. electrical charge: + & -
2. what else????

Whether these exist in opposite pairs is unknown:

1. mass: + only
2. what else????

If hatred is the repulsive force between two objects of like polarity, and love the attrative force between two objects of opposite polarity, then I could say that grouches have the tendency to behave like electrical chages with equal polarity, and that dogs and babies like mass.
 
I Wonder If........

there has been a study done on older people's love for animals? I am overwhelmed by my love for my cats! When I was younger, I knew many old people with pets, and thought they were a little nutty. Now I have joined their ranks and can not comprehend how strong my love is. I was much more upset when my cat died then when my parents passed away? The strength of the love is not sensible to me, but it is there? Maybe it's because your world shrinks as you get older and the things at home become more important? Anyway, my love for my cat it the strongest love I've experienced in my 55 years; matching my love for my wife, if not surpassing it? So, when you speak of love I think of "Moonshadow"!

Frank

:blush: :eek:kashii:
 
I think loving means DOING things for another person to enhance their life and make it better. Doing is not limited to physical actions, nor is it necessarily expressed in positive behaviour all the time. In other words, doing can mean sacrificing yourself for the sake of another person, or taking something away from yourself to give to them (cf. if you love something, set it free). It means genuinely giving of yourself.

Loving someone is not always good for them, if what you are able to offer is not what they want or need. In this case, if you really wanted to love, then you'd find out what it is that makes them happy. Sometimes they'd be happier without you.

I think it is really love when this all happens naturally without a desire to BE loved in return
 
I am also happy, tall, straight, an atheist and a whole myriad of things. One of those is love.
 
Here is my opinion about love. I am warning you, it's scientific, rational and cynical, but can't help it.

Real, romantic "love" is the result of biochemical reactions in our brain, mainly due to hormones, combined with the impression given by the object of our love ("the loved one") on our set of values. Somebody that fits our values (the cortex) and our biochemistry has high chances of making you fall in love if the conditions are good (you are psychologically receptive to "love", meet the potential loved one in a "positive" context, etc.).

Regarding love between family members or very good friends, this is mostly a sentimental bond based on one's (positive) common experiences and a sentiment of gratitude or "comfort" (reassurance, peace-of-mind, well-being...) we feel toward them.
 
TwistedMac said:
I am also happy, tall, straight, an atheist and a whole myriad of things. One of those is love.

Grammatically you are wrong. You might be loved, loving and/or loveable, but you cannot "be love", as love in a noun, not an adjective (in the same way you can't say "I am happiness", except if you speak Jengrish :p ).
 
Maciamo said:
Here is my opinion about love. I am warning you, it's scientific, rational and cynical, but can't help it.

Real, romantic "love" is the result of biochemical reactions in our brain, mainly due to hormones, combined with the impression given by the object of our love ("the loved one") on our set of values. Somebody that fits our values (the cortex) and our biochemistry has high chances of making you fall in love if the conditions are good (you are psychologically receptive to "love", meet the potential loved one in a "positive" context, etc.).

Regarding love between family members or very good friends, this is mostly a sentimental bond based on one's (positive) common experiences and a sentiment of gratitude or "comfort" (reassurance, peace-of-mind, well-being...) we feel toward them.

You're the reason why I don't believe in love.
Doc:ramen:
 
Maciamo said:
Real, romantic "love" is the result of biochemical reactions in our brain, mainly due to hormones, combined with the impression given by the object of our love ("the loved one") on our set of values. Somebody that fits our values (the cortex) and our biochemistry has high chances of making you fall in love if the conditions are good (you are psychologically receptive to "love", meet the potential loved one in a "positive" context, etc.).

Regarding love between family members or very good friends, this is mostly a sentimental bond based on one's (positive) common experiences and a sentiment of gratitude or "comfort" (reassurance, peace-of-mind, well-being...) we feel toward them.
If I might add, those two kinds of love that you defined well needs to mention the evolutionary mechanism at the heart. Whatever helps to foster the spreading of one's genes or one's genetically close blood group was the original function of love.

Beings creatures of reasoning and social organization, love became a mysterious thing by often transcending its original function, but it's still there swaying one's feelings, judgements, and actions.

Altruistic or fostering behavior for others who are totally unrelated genetically is a learned behavior pattern from observation and personal experience. I thought these biological and developmental aspects should also be mentioned in a scientific definition of love. :p
 
TwistedMac said:
I am love.
Why not just say it: I want to be loved. :D
Or try this: I am love incarnate. Worship me and I will give you love. The Greeks had Aphrodite, the Romans Venus. And you have TwistedMac to twist you love fantasies into lovely love braids to choke on. :love:
 
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Doc said:
You're the reason why I don't believe in love.
Doc:ramen:
"God still loves you, and Maciamo, too"
Sorry, I just couldn't resist the temptation. :D
 
lexico said:
"God still loves you, and Maciamo, too"

The question is "can god make love to us ?" Didn't it happen to a certain Mary about 2000 years ago ? :D

Let's see if this relationship with god is not another case of unrequited love, or "impossible love". It is unrequited if god loves us but we don't. or vice-versa. It is impossible if there is no way for us to "materialise" love (meet, touch, etc.)

Or did I misunderstand ? Does god love us in the meaning of "sentimental love", like a family bond ? Do we make god feel a sentiment of gratitude or "comfort" (reassurance, peace-of-mind, well-being...) ? If so, I am a bit worried for god, as he/she/it may not be that strong (emotionally speaking).
 
God is love, Thou art God.

Love is the state of human thinking where one's happiness is utterly and completely bound and intertwined with the happiness of another.

At least that is what Robert A. Heinlein inferred in his great work Stranger in a Strange Land. As a definition of what is probably undefinable goes, that one is good enough for me.

Amor vincit omnia
 
Maciamo said:
Here is my opinion about love. I am warning you, it's scientific, rational and cynical, but can't help it.

Real, romantic "love" is the result of biochemical reactions in our brain, mainly due to hormones, combined with the impression given by the object of our love ("the loved one") on our set of values. Somebody that fits our values (the cortex) and our biochemistry has high chances of making you fall in love if the conditions are good (you are psychologically receptive to "love", meet the potential loved one in a "positive" context, etc.).

Regarding love between family members or very good friends, this is mostly a sentimental bond based on one's (positive) common experiences and a sentiment of gratitude or "comfort" (reassurance, peace-of-mind, well-being...) we feel toward them.

What you say Maciamo, sounds like and argument which suggests that we have no free will and that our behavior is predetermined genetically and environmentally. Surely though we have some semblance of free will? Despite chemical reactions often affecting behavior and emotions, it is well documented that it is possible to adjust your body temperature by using your mind, which would imply that in this case thought determines chemistry. Is this not a form of free will?

I would say that the process you decribe, whilst certainly valid, does not entail the whole picture. To me it sounds like a mechanism that explains the process of attraction. It does not explain, for example, the later stages of relationships where people make assesements based on mutual experiences together, resulting in decisions pertaining to whether the relationship/love should continue. It does not seem to explain concepts such as self sacrifice either, which can be evolutionarily unwise, such as breaking off a relationship where your partner is unhappy with what you can give them, or forgiving infidelity (where you risk spending your resources and energy on bringing up and caring for progeny that is unrelated to you genetically).
 
lexico said:
"God still loves you, and Maciamo, too"
Sorry, I just couldn't resist the temptation. :D

I know that God loves me. However, Maciamo has helped me further in the process in not wanting to believe in nonplatonic love.:cool:

Doc:ramen:
 
Doc said:
I know that God loves me. However, Maciamo has helped me further in the process in not wanting to believe in nonplatonic love.:cool:

Doc:ramen:
It is through the art of mid wifery of irony that old ideas are put into question and the knowledge of not knowing is brought into this world, says Plato quoting Socrates. From the wound emerges blood, and pain tickles you. OMG, I'm alive!

15 billion yrs of cosmic evolution, 3 billion yrs of life, 4 million yrs of primate evolution, 8 thousand yrs of farming, and Abraham sees that all is not well. OMG, I'm alive!
So the killing begins; or is it love ? :p
 

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