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-   -   Love, what is it? (http://www.flashflashrevolution.com/vbz/showthread.php?t=88513)

Zythus 02-26-2008 12:59 AM

Love, what is it?
 
Truncated.

windsurfer-sp 02-26-2008 02:39 AM

Re: Love, what is it?
 
For a start we are talking about "eros" love.

Quote:

Originally Posted by wikipedia, Greek words for love
Eros (ἔρως érōs) is passionate love, with sensual desire and longing. The Modern Greek word "erotas" means "(romantic) love". However, eros does not have to be sexual in nature. Eros can be interpreted as a love for someone whom you love more than the philia love of friendship. It can also apply to dating relationships as well as marriage. Although eros is initially felt for a person, with contemplation it becomes an appreciation of the beauty within that person, or even becomes appreciation of beauty itself. It should be noted Plato does not talk of physical attraction as a necessary part of love, hence the use of the word platonic to mean, "without physical attraction". Plato also said eros helps the soul recall knowledge of beauty, and contributes to an understanding of spiritual truth. Lovers and philosophers are all inspired to seek truth by eros.

My own thoughts on love is that it is an extremely complex emotion that probably cant be perfectly described. I know I am in love, yet just trying to begin to describe it is so hard.

Love is suppose to be selfless, so your opinion about love being possessive isn't based on pure love but twisted love. Could you give some examples of where you think love can't be justified by its "shadows" that you claim it to cast.

Goldenwind 02-26-2008 07:07 AM

Re: Love, what is it?
 
Note: I am a logical person who needs proof to be certain in something. Aka, I don't believe in religion, however I believe in the POSSIBILITY that it COULD be true (Aka, agnostic).

And I have an animal theory. It's not something I believe to be fact or anything, but just something I theorize could be true.

I'm now happy I wrote up all my theories :)

Quote:

What sets the human race apart from the other species? One might argue that the biggest difference is our achievements:
- Culture
- Possessions (Clothing, buildings, stores, cars, computers, etc)
- Language

But are these really differences?

[Picture]
Culture - Many species travel in packs. The leader of those packs (Depending on the species) is sometimes determined by a fight. As another example, bees use the art of dance to relay the location of a flower to their fellow bees.

Possessions - We have houses with closets and different types of flooring and pictures on the wall and, and, and... but is this unique?

Birds have nests, beavers have dams, and so on, but how do we know that they don't decorate or that either? While we don't see picture frames hanging from their walls, I'm sure our picture frames don't exactly look like decorations to them.

[Picture of a cube]
See the picture of a cube? We know it's a cube, as we know from experience that this is what a cube looks like on paper. However, to someone who has never experienced geometry on paper before, this is just a bunch of lines - they can't see the 3D shape. Similar to this, if animals have possessions in their homes, it's unlikely that we'd even notice, much how that person wouldn't recognize a paper-drawn cube.

Language - Monkeys can communicate such that they work as a team. Dogs bark as a means for communication. While we don't really know what they're saying, it's pretty much a given that animals have their own languages. And hey, who says that a dog here speaks the same language or dialect of "woof" as a dog elsewhere in the world? Think about it ;) Barks of accent! :D


So, are we really that different from animals?
Much like any of my notes, I welcome you to comment and give your own opinion. Theories are only theories, and this is by far one of my more interesting ones ;)

If you accept that we are just another species on the planet, then these concepts follow naturally:
Animals are not below us - You already (should) treat other people the same way you would like to be treated, why not treat animals the same way? (Note: While I'm sure you'd looooove to hug that bear, realize it may not share the same feelings)
We are not above animals - If we're animals, then we carry some similar traits to animals. We can use this to answer some questions, and to notice some flaws in our society:
- You see someone attractive, however it is "unacceptable" to simply act on instinct
- You're hungry, however not being allowed to get a snack, as dinner is being prepared (When the primary purpose of eating is to alleviate hunger. Ironic?)
- Understanding human feelings (Reasons for lust, jealousy, greed. Understanding the motive for rape, as well as why it has such a shattering impact on the victim)
- Understanding implied natural gender roles (Females nurturing, males fighting, etc)
- Understanding specific "immoralities" (Eg, child molesters, polygamy (Human lust isn't magically "disabled" towards children, or when you have a partner))

It's important to realize that this is simply a theory - a way of looking at things. It can help you answer questions about why things are the way they are, or to understand certain concepts. Much like the "Best vs. Right" debate, this simply brings peace of mind, is all.


[Picture]
Walking in someone else's shoes?
Try perceiving the shoeless.
So, with that said, I believe "love" is just a word we use to tack onto this illusion. I don't believe it's magical, or mysterious, but rather could be just everyday mammallian attraction. We as a species seem to believe we're so special, and set apart from every other species... and while that might be true, it seems kind of arrogant to be presumptuous of at the whim of a book or otherwise.

(Reminder: It's a theory, not something I state to be fact)

LLaMaSaUceYup 02-26-2008 02:31 PM

Re: Love, what is it?
 
Quote:

Originally Posted by Goldenwind (Post 2046414)
So, with that said, I believe "love" is just a word we use to tack onto this illusion. I don't believe it's magical, or mysterious, but rather could be just everyday mammallian attraction. We as a species seem to believe we're so special, and set apart from every other species... and while that might be true, it seems kind of arrogant to be presumptuous of at the whim of a book or otherwise.

(Reminder: It's a theory, not something I state to be fact)

Ooh this is very interesting, ;D
Love can be an addiction
:O

DoctorSerpentine 02-26-2008 03:04 PM

Re: Love, what is it?
 
Oh baby don't hurt me.

funmonkey54 02-26-2008 03:49 PM

Re: Love, what is it?
 
Love is a feeling of great passion towards another self or being. Everyone has love assuming there is a need of approval within them. Think about it. All people need to be told they have done a good job or they become untrusting and depressive. The person they find this in is the one they "love". Whether they find that for a moment, a while, or long term, that is what we consider to be love.

~kitty~ 02-26-2008 04:03 PM

Re: Love, what is it?
 
Love is fake in so many ways... there are only a few things that real love is. That, too, is what makes us what we call "human". We are too species and arrogant, but not as much as so to many species to we seen and to a majority. There are low lifes who take "love" for granted and crap, but it is hard to explain, because animals that aren't human don't exactly "love".

You can see this on the fact that animals don't have to travel far and long to find a mate. They do it quick and through calls and stuff of that sort. Love is an advanced brain function, we may find out what love really is later, as of now, most things are theory and what not.


If I don't make sense, don't worry. I am saying this as I go. XD (any spelling or grammar errors, please correct me, especially if you're a forum mod/admin etc.)

Zythus 02-26-2008 04:19 PM

Re: Love, what is it?
 
Truncated.

Zythus 02-26-2008 04:25 PM

Re: Love, what is it?
 
Truncated.

windsurfer-sp 02-27-2008 01:44 AM

Re: Love, what is it?
 
Pure love is the selfless affection that one person feels towards another.

So using that definition, pure love should and can only be a positive thing. Can you please give some examples of some sort of what you are trying to get at here.

Zythus 02-27-2008 09:55 AM

Re: Love, what is it?
 
Truncated.

Jokee 02-28-2008 12:18 AM

Re: Love, what is it?
 
My biology teacher said that the only purpose of life is surviving. Surviving by being the strongest, hunting down preys to feed yourself up and by passing on your gens. So the brain invent an attraction, a need to find someone else, to keep your ascendence alive.
That's what we call love.

Zythus 02-28-2008 12:21 AM

Re: Love, what is it?
 
Truncated.

WillTalbot 02-28-2008 06:52 PM

Re: Love, what is it?
 
Quote:

Originally Posted by Zythus (Post 2047987)
Do you think pure love exists? does it really?
If you can think of a scenario that shows selfless and selfless ONLY, please care to enlighten me.
Somehow you say my judgment is based on twisted love. its the same being discribed here, twisted or pure.

My reasoning towards this purity, you can't get around possessiveness. Alright, lets say that you got some valid reasons and this love was pure because of selflessness, isn't the relationship still MY wife, HER husband? surely, devotion can be selflessness if you don't get it confused with addict/obsession, but the characteristics of love, you just can't avoid, whether good or twisted.

I believe that pure love exists and it is known as Agape http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Agape. And while this is known to be a spiritual love of purity and perfection that according to Christianity God gives us, i believe that everyone has the potential for achieving this type of love because i believe that everyone is pure in self or in nature, but outside forces and modern day society have sort of erased this type of compassion with like mentioned, abused forms of the word love.

Being in the 9th grade, like almost every other high school the freshman are givin Romeo and Juliet to read as part of the curriculum. Now I didn't finish reading the book yet but as to what i know of it and what i hear about it, the two young lovers seem to do whatever it takes to share their love together with one another as much as possible. Now I mean I know its just a story but they were practically kids and maybe attracted physically so much that they thought it was astrological as I remember.

One last thing that you should consider is that the possibility of possessivness just being a "tag" that us humans created out of the ego, which i believe to be true as for my knoledge holds. And a pure relationship is one of no possession but rather depossession ... if thats even a word. See its a bit hard to explain so ill put it this way, I believe a true marriage is the unification of man and woman so that they not physically, but spiritually become one. While it may be hard to imagine this being possible now adays im sure it was possible back then when there was less interference and more self, self being detatchment from all things except ones self and being purely you. So my conclusion is that a pure relationship is two people in purity, totally their complete self living together in harmony as themselves, not as wife or husband but as one.

Zythus 02-28-2008 07:44 PM

Re: Love, what is it?
 
Truncated.

sarahxjane 02-28-2008 07:53 PM

Re: Love, what is it?
 
Love is merely another feeling that is triggered from your brain.

WillTalbot 02-28-2008 08:09 PM

Re: Love, what is it?
 
Quote:

Originally Posted by Zythus (Post 2050335)
Thats an interesting aspect Will, but aside from the whole idea of religion, which is irrelevant, your deposession would be considered devotion? Seeing how if the mutuality of the relationship was accepted, sure, just maybe. However, I would interject that possessive and ego is a characteristic of love, if thats what you mean by tag. I have yet to see purity in love because its immensely political.

As one? do care to explain. How do they feel? How do they justify this purity by being as one?

While religion may be irrelivant it may also influence the truth so it should be taken into consideration. Since it can neither be proven false nor true, it should be stated as possible which I am mearly doing. I don't quite understand what you mean by "your deposession would be considered devotion?" but i think that you mean that by breaking away from all that is but yourself that is considered devotion to your own breaking away ... once again correct me if I'm wrong. But if that is what you mean then don't you think its possible that you can be without any influence, just completely in oneself without trying? For example, does a baby who is born, with no understand of anything in the world "try" to become free of what we consider bad or good or ... whatever ... bottom line is that it just doesn't try. And an important aspect to remember is that the thought of becoming pure is not even in its sub conscious! So technically purity could be without knoldge ... actually i just thought about that but i guess thats a seperate topic.

I'm also not quite sure what you mean by "I have yet to see purity in love because its immensely political." but I'm assuming that you mean that love is so variable with so many interpretations that it would be difficult to find pure love? and even that in itself is variable. lol i'd love to discuss this with you as i too have alot of unanswered questions that i want clarified but i think we both could use a little more clarification.

Well those last questions you asked in your statement are very deep in philisophy atleast to my belief and alot of this is opinion based because if anything were proven to be true, there would nothing to be debated about ... except its being proven true be proven true ... ugh confusing. But ANYWAY I believe that EVERYTHING in nature is one because we are all composed of the same atomic unit, which are atoms! But not only in that are we similar but in spirituality. As for how they feel ... I'm not quite sure since i haven't experienced this for myself but i would presume they would feel EXTREMELY happy, or just not feel at all. And the last statement is easy to dispute because what i'm about to tell you might make the most sense out of what im saying, when we are brought into this world we are ourselves and purely that, as we gain knoledge and understanding we start to drift apart from ourselves, but not in all cases. Anyway, in relation to this topic i believe a pure relationship if composed of two pure people, they don't justify that they are pure, that would be considered using the ego, they just are like the clouds and animals, they just are. Without knowing. I know it is SO HARD to imagine something like this being possible because of our society's influence on our minds but you can't say that it is not possible because you can't prove its not, and if so please do ^_^

I remember this statement from a modern day philosopher known as Michael Tsarion that sort of opened my eyes a bit. And this is not an exact quote but a dog does not see a human for what the humans see themselves as, the dog sees the human for what it purely is, while you can't really prove it, as you can't really prove much it is something i believe because dogs don't have the capacity to logically think things out, so according to my believe they are pure because of that.

Zythus 02-29-2008 12:36 PM

Re: Love, what is it?
 
Truncated.

AquaTeen 01-19-2009 02:59 PM

Re: Love, what is it?
 
IDK what love is. I feel that love is a stronger feeling of likeliness towards another individual but I also feel that no one can truly know what love really is because to love is to be infatuated so love is basically infatuation. Love seems to be a non-existent feeling. But that's just how I feel other people are entitled to their own opinion concerning love.

StringsnKeys 01-19-2009 03:16 PM

Re: Love, what is it?
 
Love is everything that hate is not. Funny how no one seems to have a hard time describing how much they can hate someone...........

Bolth mannn 01-19-2009 04:11 PM

Re: Love, what is it?
 
Love is where your heart is.

Reach 01-19-2009 05:11 PM

Re: Love, what is it?
 
We can play the semantics game all day long, but I'll go ahead and define it.

It's the summation of various feelings/senses, and definitely has a neurochemical basis probably centralized in the limbic system. At the most basic level, I would characterize it by strong affection, attachment and lust all rolled into one, though I suppose it can be broken up into any of those alone in certain circumstances.

From there, you could break those 3 feelings down by neurotransmitter and cortical area. Some of the culprits should be obvious. Testosterone and estrogen are definitely the driving factor in sexual attraction. Attachment is largely controlled by posterior pituitary hormones, and affection by dopamine, serotonin, epi/norepi and probably NGF.

You could consider love as a larger phenomenon, i.e. a social and cultural one as well. This starts to become complex, as social and cultural factors can bend and shape the manifestation of the neurochemical basis of love.

As such, it's not hard to see that this complexity makes it hard to talk about and define love, as it is can't be described by only the chemical level, the individual level or the population level. You would need to integrate all of these factors into a coherent model before you could adequately describe love, but I don't think it's necessary in order to understand what it is.

It's an affectionate emotion that bonds people, stemming from processes and natural drives inside of your brain that branches off and is molded by social and cultural factors.

More specifically, wiki defines it well: "love is a type of interpersonal relationship where mutual assumption of good faith results in a state of emergence, i.e. constituents individually perceive the group's social evolution as both beneficial and greater than what could be achieved by the sum of the relationship's parts."

Cavernio 03-31-2009 08:32 AM

Re: Love, what is it?
 
Love is an emotion.

When responding to another poster, Zythus said that religion doesn't come into play here, but I disagree. Religion is so widespread and popular because it elicits strong, positive emotions, like love.

I think that the most 'pure' form of love, ie: a love which exists with the least amount of, apparently, negative things like possesiveness, is love one feels for God.
I'm guessing you've never been religious Zythus, or if you have, it's been more of a practice than a feeling, but even then, you should be able to ponder at some of the actions people who worship god do. People at christian rallies act like buffoons. They look absolutely ecstatic about it too. They worship God. Worship is a form of love which does not carry negativity in it. It's just hard to worship a real person, because everyone has flaws. God, by definition, doesn't. As to possessiveness, there's enough God to go around, and people who are in love with God want to spread the news about God because it feels so ****ing awesome and it's good to share love.

Love where someone does not see the other person's flaws does happen, I've seen it, but after spending so much time with a person, this view eventually dissipates. Worship of a person is also rather stupid, because it allows for things Hitler's reign of terror. God in actuality is neither evil or good, it's just a concept, but most religions have centered around them that you are to be nice to other people.

Bolth mannn 03-31-2009 08:35 AM

Re: Love, what is it?
 
Love is the first stage of Cannibalism.

ShAiOnEi 03-31-2009 01:03 PM

Re: Love, what is it?
 
Love is stupid I'd rather just get to the point of it all if you know what I mean. 8)

dean_machine 03-31-2009 01:17 PM

Re: Love, what is it?
 
Quote:

Originally Posted by ShAiOnEi (Post 3030921)
Love is stupid I'd rather just get to the point of it all if you know what I mean. 8)

Then you don't understand that the point of love is love itself.

Nyokou 03-31-2009 01:50 PM

Re: Love, what is it?
 
Quote:

Originally Posted by ShAiOnEi (Post 3030921)
Love is stupid I'd rather just get to the point of it all if you know what I mean. 8)

To love, you need to be loved. An emotion that is supposed to be a parents' job of passing on to his/her child. Unfortunately, certain circumstances have kept you, Shai, and many other people, from having that parental love. It's very difficult for someone in that situation to understand what it means to love another person. And it's quite obvious with you since you simply stated that "love is stupid", yet I would like for you to further expand on that claim. Why is it stupid to you?

danthemano 04-23-2009 01:28 PM

Re: Love, what is it?
 
I believe that love is the longing to find something that completes you, and shows who you are. The things you love are what defines you. I believe that patience is also important when it comes to love, thats why so many people get divorced in modern times: their longing for love blinds them to the facts that point away from that particular relationship working out.
Quote:

Originally Posted by Bolth mannn (Post 3030839)
Love is the first stage of Cannibalism.

OMFG ROFL
Quote:

Originally Posted by ShAiOnEi (Post 3030921)
Love is stupid I'd rather just get to the point of it all if you know what I mean. 8)

ignorance is bliss, as they say.

GG_Guru 04-23-2009 01:32 PM

Re: Love, what is it?
 
Quote:

Love is patient, love is kind. It has no envy, nor it boasts itself and it is never proud. It rejoices over the evil and is the truth seeker. Love protects; preserves and hopes for the positive aspect of life. Always stand steadfast in love, not fall into it. It is like the dream of your matter of affection coming true. Love can occur between two or more individuals. It bonds them and connects them in a unified link of trust, intimacy and interdependence. It enhances the relationship and comforts the soul. Love should be experienced and not just felt. The depth of love can not be measured. Look at the relationship between a mother and a child. The mother loves the child unconditionally and it can not be measured at all. A different dimension can be attained between any relationships with the magic of love. Love can be created. You just need to focus on the goodness of the other person. If this can be done easily, then you can also love easily. And remember we all have some positive aspect in us, no matter how bad our deeds maybe. And as God said "Love all".

From http://www.love-sessions.com/whatislove.htm

Frozen Beat 04-24-2009 10:00 AM

Re: Love, what is it?
 
Nyokou, you don't need to be loved to love -_____-
You could love someone and they might not love you back. It's called "not getting someone you love" lol.

Love is a the strong pleasant emotion to another person, whether it is one way or not.

At the same time, love could simply be a burning illusion, and sometimes you should turn the page in your life before it gets f*cking scortched =].

ShAiOnEi 04-24-2009 09:50 PM

Re: Love, what is it?
 
Quote:

Originally Posted by Frozen Beat (Post 3055324)
Nyokou, you don't need to be loved to love -_____-
You could love someone and they might not love you back. It's called "not getting someone you love" lol.

Love is a the strong pleasant emotion to another person, whether it is one way or not.

At the same time, love could simply be a burning illusion, and sometimes you should turn the page in your life before it gets f*cking scortched =].

Exactly I love alot of women but sadly I don't get any love back so why give it all up for just one person that may never come along? Relationship wise love is just a chemical reaction most women I loved were because I was extremely attracted to them. Love for my family and friends is totally different because although I don't show much affection towards them I have a strong bond to them and care deeply.

devonin 04-26-2009 05:34 PM

Re: Love, what is it?
 
Let's all just close our eyes, think really hard, and pretend all those horrible off-topic, silly, trolly, flamey posts never happened.

Everyone should go review the rules for posting in this forum before posting again.

Necros140606 04-27-2009 02:35 AM

Re: Love, what is it?
 
reach's post is too long to quote but i completely agree with it

Quote:

Originally Posted by Wikipedia (Post 2956409)
"love is a type of interpersonal relationship where mutual assumption of good faith results in a state of emergence, i.e. constituents individually perceive the group's social evolution as both beneficial and greater than what could be achieved by the sum of the relationship's parts."

a little question for everyone: if love is between more than two people, would you still consider it love? or love has to be confined in the social boundaries of the era? or its sole purpose is marriage?

devonin 04-27-2009 02:40 PM

Re: Love, what is it?
 
Quote:

Originally Posted by devonin (Post 3057464)
Let's all just close our eyes, think really hard, and pretend all those horrible off-topic, silly, trolly, flamey posts never happened.

Everyone should go review the rules for posting in this forum before posting again.

Well, I've been sharply criticized for apparantly failing to apply my moderation powers "properly" in the case of GG_Guru having posted text he took from another website into this thread.

While it certainly would have been -more correct- to properly attribute his quotation to its source; since this is just a discussion forum, and not any sort of academic circle where he is submitting these works as necessarily his own, I don't feel that there's anything actually -rulebreaking- about posting from somewhere else as long as you don't actually claim that you came up with it on your own.

In the interests of clearing up the confusion, I'm editting Guru's post to reflect that he is quoting from somewhere else.

Also, and you can thank Afrobean for showing me that I really do need to apply my moderator powers properly in all cases, I'll also be retroactively banning the users who took part in the postwhoring, the trolling, and the flaming in response to Guru's post.

Please ensure that you've both read -and- understood the rules of this forum before you post here. The onus is on you to follow the rules when you post here, and you won't be getting additional warnings since the rules are clearly located, and direct you to read them before posting.

kirjautunut 04-27-2009 02:47 PM

Re: Love, what is it?
 
Love is something what you like, just next step from it.

It's really nice feeling, which warms up your body. ^^

j0shumz 04-27-2009 03:33 PM

Re: Love, what is it?
 
I think love is an emotional reaction to people who really understand you and your situation. Those people who you feel understand you, you can ask for advice, say anything that you want to them, etc, etc. You like, you love, to be around them because of these reasons.

BEN.(SPEIRS) 7.5 04-30-2009 03:10 AM

Re: Love, what is it?
 
I am constantly trying to work this out. At school I made a huge presentation on the fact that none of us (us as in, 16 year olds) don't know what love is yet, so it's impossible to comment on.

I know I've been through two stages though - liking someone and just being completely obsessed with someone to the point of thinking about them almost all the time, but I'm absolutely sure that's not love.

Dr Tran 04-30-2009 03:17 AM

Re: Love, what is it?
 
**** love yo ;_;





i miss you baby D:

xxx169 04-30-2009 05:27 AM

Re: Love, what is it?
 
Quote:

Originally Posted by DoctorSerpentine (Post 2046816)
Oh baby don't hurt me.

Don't hurt me
no more.

xealix 04-30-2009 12:05 PM

Re: Love, what is it?
 
Woooooo!! Im in love :D
Yes i sure am. I met her on FFR haha pretty awesome.

Frozen Beat 04-30-2009 08:42 PM

Re: Love, what is it?
 
Then you won't receive the same level of love you would as if you knew them in real life.

Love has many levels
-liking someone would probably be so mild, it's in another category, which is "liking someone"
-Internet love lolololololololol
-loving someone, where you think about them often
-obsession, you can't stop thinking about them. This is bad for a number of reasons.
-loving someone while they love you back.

Love to be honest, is quite the "vague" term. There are loads of ways to describe it, and define it.

xealix 05-1-2009 12:06 PM

Re: Love, what is it?
 
Quote:

Originally Posted by Frozen Beat (Post 3061156)
Then you won't receive the same level of love you would as if you knew them in real life.

Love has many levels
-liking someone would probably be so mild, it's in another category, which is "liking someone"
-Internet love lolololololololol
-loving someone, where you think about them often
-obsession, you can't stop thinking about them. This is bad for a number of reasons.
-loving someone while they love you back.

Love to be honest, is quite the "vague" term. There are loads of ways to describe it, and define it.

I have been with her in real life, and i love her so much. I'm prepared to wait as long as i have to, because i know that this girl is the one i want to be with forever. Its actually my first relationship in my entire life, and this is the feeling i have been waiting for. Its something i can't even describe. To me if thats not love then i dont know what is. I think proving that distance isn't a problem shows that. Im just counting down the days till i see her again.

Necros140606 05-1-2009 04:25 PM

Re: Love, what is it?
 
serious post

Love: a single word expressing a wide gamma of feelings of affection.

"Love" for person a =/= "love" for person b

until you come up with a standard for love, which means quantifying every single action, thought and preposition, it's pointless find a shared answer. love differs from one to the other just like the experiences he's/she's received (therefore love is likely to be different for everyone) BUT somewhat watered down in difference by the examples the media and the outside world keeps pushing into us.

Frozen Beat 05-1-2009 06:17 PM

Re: Love, what is it?
 
Quote:

Originally Posted by xealix (Post 3061688)
I have been with her in real life, and i love her so much. I'm prepared to wait as long as i have to, because i know that this girl is the one i want to be with forever. Its actually my first relationship in my entire life, and this is the feeling i have been waiting for. Its something i can't even describe. To me if thats not love then i dont know what is. I think proving that distance isn't a problem shows that. Im just counting down the days till i see her again.

Okay. Lemme know when you guys break up. You're no different, they all say these things, then come up with something cheesy called "i can't even describe it." Everybody gets that feeling when they fall in love, and 99% of the time with their first love, people break up, and I know that feeling believe it or not.

[Apologizes to Danny for hypocrisy]

Love may as well be different for everyone, but our brains are all engineered in the same way. Who knows hehe.

xealix 05-1-2009 11:19 PM

Re: Love, what is it?
 
Quote:

Originally Posted by Frozen Beat (Post 3061900)
Okay. Lemme know when you guys break up. You're no different, they all say these things, then come up with something cheesy called "i can't even describe it." Everybody gets that feeling when they fall in love, and 99% of the time with their first love, people break up, and I know that feeling believe it or not.

[Apologizes to Danny for hypocrisy]

Love may as well be different for everyone, but our brains are all engineered in the same way. Who knows hehe.

I dont know because its not like i havent liked other people, because i have and that was after i told her that i loved her. she also said that she loved me back. However after that she found someone closer to where she lived, that was a six month relationship but i couldnt find anyone in all that time that was actually better then her. so i waited and now we are together, but i will be sure to let you know if we break up :)

so trying to shoot me down wont really work, but i wish you luck i actually believe in myself and this relationship. I have seen them work. my friend Zach actually moved to texas this year to go live with his girlfriend and things seem to be going great for them. I know a lot of relationships do not work out but there are those few that do and who knows ours just might be one of those so im not willing to give up just because of a few fights, and i know she isnt either.

slipstrike0159 05-3-2009 05:04 PM

Re: Love, what is it?
 
First off, this is not a chit chat place to talk about your own relationships. Its entirely conceptual and is based off of CRITICAL THINKING. Kindly go away or post more wisely.

Anyway to answer the original question you have to look at all the defining characteristics. When you try to define it you will likely run into many different levels of such an emotion. I will assume you have already come to the conclusion that love is an emotion of several levels of severity since you call for a definition of "pure love". Like reach said, its a culmination of aspects. However if you were to ask me of a simple personal opinion i would say that you would define pure love as sacrificial devotion with the most correct intentions behind it (i say intentions loosely because i know many people will argue the semantics of 'intentions'). We as humans recognize that the highest form of bonding with someone is complete devotion, whether that is seen as only loving one individual or simply having an (un)spoken trust with someone else, etc. Of course devotion in of itself has varying levels, this is why i bring up sacrifice. You can see all around in our media or even daily life how the idea of sacrificing yourself for someone else is seen as the ultimate act of kindness, as in sacrificing your time and service to help someone less fortunate or even just simply doing something that inconveniences you with the only hope of reimbursement being that you helped someone else. So when you throw those two together i believe you can come up with a definition that attempts to scratch the surface.

However, i will say this. Love is a different thing to different people. Our own personal definitions vary based on a vast amount of things. That being said, i think it is impossible to define love, or rather "pure love", as pertaining to everyone because it is an emotion that is inherently different for every person. Although, if you want to try anyway, you can gather up some common traits or feelings someone comes upon in their own situation and use that culmination of broadly accepted feelings to describe it. Just understand that it IS different, as well as different on varying levels, for every person and therefore is mostly opinionated and situational definitions.

The funniest thing about love in my personal opinion is how often times it is thought of as a spectrum with respect to hate, whereas love being on one side and hate the opposite. At the same time however, it is thought of as having a thin line between love and hate seeing as how one can jump from one to the other very easily. So just for some food for thought questions; is it a spectrum or a line to cross? In the case of the line, does that suggest that even 'pure love' can get easily pushed across the line under the right circumstances? Or in the case of the spectrum does that suggest sometimes as you approach the end of one side you see traits exhibited on the opposite end?
I for one think of it as two sides of the same coin. Although they are very distinctly recognized as opposites, with enough force you can change the side of the coin that is facing up. And in that respect, sometimes your chances at either is decided by that 50-50 attempt at a flip of a coin.

Frozen Beat 05-3-2009 05:10 PM

Re: Love, what is it?
 
'pure love' can. Virtually everything can break given the right circumstances.

I believe instead of a spectrum or a line, it's both. You go from one end to the other of the spectrum.

beinning of spectrum-hate
middle of spectrum-idc lololol
end of spectrum-love yah

so when you get to the end, and something pushes you over, you end up back where you started. Hate. Although if you get pushed in a different direction somehow, you may end up being lost, and perhaps end up somewhere within the midde.

I love how cheesy this topic got when xealix got here.

Have fun with my metaphors too rofl.

Cavernio 05-7-2009 01:45 PM

Re: Love, what is it?
 
"Or in the case of the spectrum does that suggest sometimes as you approach the end of one side you see traits exhibited on the opposite end?"
So you mean you think it might be that the spectrum is circular?

I don't think I agree with either the line or spectrum thing, although I'm not sure I fully understand the line thing. I understand the love/hate being opposite perception, but when I think about it, I certainly don't agree with it.

I think that hate and love may be close in that they are both very strong emotions, and one only experiences strong emotions when they care, or if not 'care', the focus of your hate is someone who matters. You can't hate someone you don't care about.

On a slightly different note, things like respect and admiration can make up 'love'. They can also be part of a reason to hate someone too though, like if you're in competition with them.

revolutionomega 05-7-2009 02:31 PM

Re: Love, what is it?
 
Quote:

Originally Posted by Zythus (Post 2051365)
*I am a computer beep boop.*

~I personally think that people take love too seriously.~
::In my opinion love is a varying concept, ranging from person-to-person in varying levels.
-Love does not necessarily imply attraction (Parent to child)
-Love can be imposed (Someone may dislike their parent, but they still love them)
-Love does not have to be expressed towards a living thing (A man loves money because he enjoys it and finds it as a source of happiness)
-Love can be artificial (you can love an imaginary character or think you love someone you don't even know, however as Sarahxjane mentioned, it is triggered by your brain, such as hormones; this can also be a lustful notion)
-Love can be wonderful, but it can be blinding (sometimes causing rational people to become irrational because they are unwilling to believe anything they may love could ever hurt them as it causes them great joy)

There's no need to overcomplicate what love is. Just find what it means to YOU.
Yes? Yes.

Frozen Beat 05-8-2009 08:51 PM

Re: Love, what is it?
 
Quote:

Originally Posted by Cavernio (Post 3066043)
"Or in the case of the spectrum does that suggest sometimes as you approach the end of one side you see traits exhibited on the opposite end?"
So you mean you think it might be that the spectrum is circular?

I don't think I agree with either the line or spectrum thing, although I'm not sure I fully understand the line thing. I understand the love/hate being opposite perception, but when I think about it, I certainly don't agree with it.

I think that hate and love may be close in that they are both very strong emotions, and one only experiences strong emotions when they care, or if not 'care', the focus of your hate is someone who matters. You can't hate someone you don't care about.

On a slightly different note, things like respect and admiration can make up 'love'. They can also be part of a reason to hate someone too though, like if you're in competition with them.

What.

You can not care about someone and hate them.

You could not care about whatever **** happens to the moron, and you could totally hate them.

Dude, the spectrum is not circular. How'd you get that. I simply used a metaphor to help represent it, because it's tricky otherwise. No circle. Metaphor.

Wineandbread 05-9-2009 11:29 PM

Re: Love, what is it?
 
Doesn't not caring for someone imply that you are emotionally detached from them? If that's the case, then you can't really hate them.

Frozen Beat 05-10-2009 04:49 PM

Re: Love, what is it?
 
Subconsciously I guess -_-

Cavernio 05-13-2009 12:49 PM

Re: Love, what is it?
 
Frozen-beat:
I only hate people who I know. If I don't care about someone, then why would I hate them? I'd be indifferent towards them. I can only hate someone if they affect me in some way, shape or form, hence I care about them in some way, shape or form. You hate people who do or who express things you find distasteful, whos morals and values are opposite yours, or someone who's wronged you. In all those cases, you have some sort of 'relationship' with them. Hate is similar to love in that they're both strong feelings about someone.
Furthermore, you are more apt to hate someone who you love when they wrong you than someone you don't know.
eg: Pretend your mom sells you into slavery. Do you hate your mom or the slaver worse?

Also, I wasn't responding to anything you said when I was talking about a spectrum, I was responding to slipstrike, hence the quote from him.

Frozen Beat 05-16-2009 10:27 AM

Re: Love, what is it?
 
If my mom sold me into slavery, then okay. I hate her then. No love left at all. Unless there was circumstances involved, example: she had to otherwise 10 other people would die.

I've learnt that grieving or living in the past is wasted energy. Moving ahead is an entirely new thing.

Although your example was sh*t in the sense that the chances of that happening are practically nil.

Also, you just used your own definition of "knowing" someone. Perhaps you don't really know them at all. Maybe you either think or believe. Who knows ;].

MDMAngel 05-16-2009 02:23 PM

Re: Love, what is it?
 
Quote:

Originally Posted by Frozen Beat (Post 3075839)
If my mom sold me into slavery, then okay. I hate her then. No love left at all. Unless there was circumstances involved, example: she had to otherwise 10 other people would die.

I've learnt that grieving or living in the past is wasted energy. Moving ahead is an entirely new thing.

Although your example was sh*t in the sense that the chances of that happening are practically nil.

Also, you just used your own definition of "knowing" someone. Perhaps you don't really know them at all. Maybe you either think or believe. Who knows ;].

Hate has multiple meanings. Do you want to clear up on your definition of this "hate"? By the way, hate is a vague word. You can hate how something smells. Understand? Elaborate.

Frozen Beat 05-16-2009 03:45 PM

Re: Love, what is it?
 
Wow Angel, that sounded just like something I'd say xD.

We're speaking about hate in the extreme sense. At least, that's what it seems to be. We're using the word as it's meant to be used.

NyxDust 06-9-2009 02:00 PM

Re: Love, what is it?
 
As a young teen I use to believe love was all I needed and that I would find it one day. As an older teen, I believe in no such thing. Love has been proven to be a slight obsession with a person. It all has to do with chemicals in the brain and stuff, that make you feel well like your "in love".

Personally I think that we can love, but not be in love. The being in love I am talking about is.. "I am so in love with him, and he is the one I know I am going to spend the rest of my life with" etc

AC1speakerbox 06-9-2009 02:09 PM

Re: Love, what is it?
 
Damn you, its stuck in my head now.

Eeumi 06-14-2009 01:26 AM

Re: Love, what is it?
 
Quote:

Originally Posted by Zythus (Post 2046295)
Quite the enigma to me I suppose. What is love and how is it justified?
standard answer? An emotion that shows affection towards another person or thing.
However, is that it? Is that piece of trash definition really discribing the egotostical and possessive side of it?
To me, I feel that love can be a very pure and influencial thought, but abused in every way possible in our world that it becomes political even. For example, I love you for your money. Alright cool. Is that it? Justifying greed and personal gain by blemishing the term " love". And yet, that goes to another question. Exactly how can love be justified purely and wholeheartedly? In our current world, love has become a standard excuse and diverson.

To explain my reasoning about the characteristics of the word love, I believe the relationship of love is very possessive and often a prime topic to boast about. Teenagers especially, with a newfound relationship, one certainly feels the pride of ditching the title of single and finally getting to be more "in". With that is one of my aspects of why love is egotistical. Possessiveness is quite apparent. She is MY wife or he is MY husband. Nothing truly negative, but devolope into the sense of a worn ego. Which brings me to my earlier question. Is there anyway that love can be justified without the onmipresent shadows that it casts?

I know there is much more to love, but I think its wise to positions this discussion on a basic level to avoid extreme bias or offending. This is a topic that, it would seem, I have fought and thought over for a long long time because I feel facsinated that love never cease to deviate in various different ways, not all of them in the right state of mind if you ask me. I ask for your opinions.

Well, I don't think love is an emotion at all. Actually I think love is acceptance. Accepting a person regardless of flaws they may have. Don't get me wrong affection comes naturally when dealing with love I just don't think that is the core of it all.

I do agree that people abuse love. Unfortunately people will say I love you for selfish reasons like money and will sugarcoat their true intent with an act that will surely sucker whoever they are with into giving them what they want.

As far as the possessive terms like MY husband and MY wife, can mean different things for different couples. I say it's only possessive when pure love doesn't back up the term.

Shaydow 06-14-2009 08:21 AM

Re: Love, what is it?
 
Pure love is a selfless devotion of one's person to the well being of another. Or, if you truelly love someone, your only thought and desires toward that person are simply to make them happy.

Someone asked earlier for an example of an act of pure love, and no one gave one. As a father I can tell you that if I had to make a choice between the life of my child or my own life, I would instantlly choose to die so my child could live.

Some say this may be instinct, but if that's the case, then is love nothing more then the strongest of primal instincts? I don't belive so, otherwise we ( and other animals ) would not greive over the loss of one we loved. And even if it is just a strong natural instinct ment by nature to keep bonds in place for the betterment of the survival of the species, it still makes the chemical reactions no less meaningfull.

Almost all animals will grieve over the loss of one of thier own. Some animals have even been known, after lossing thier own offspring, to care for another, even ones outside of thier own species. While this may seem more chemical and instictual then emotional and spiritual to some, it STILL retains the emotional and spiritual elements, regardless of the cause and effect.

Just my 2 cents.

8Shade8 06-18-2009 05:50 AM

Re: Love, what is it?
 
Plain and simply put: Love is the spirit of dedication to the people closest to you such as friends and relatives.

Based on this definition, you cannot 'love' a physical object such as your Game Boy or a computer. You feel attachment and the need to have it, however it is not a person, so it does not meet the criteria of the definition; it is not love.

devonin 06-18-2009 12:33 PM

Re: Love, what is it?
 
Quote:

Based on this definition, you cannot 'love' a physical object such as your Game Boy or a computer. You feel attachment and the need to have it, however it is not a person, so it does not meet the criteria of the definition; it is not love.
"I bring you love"
"Is that the love of a man for a woman, or the love of a man for a fine cuban cigar?"
/Simpsons

We clearly use the word in relation to non-persons all the time. I don't think we're just -misusing- the word, I think you're being too restrictive in your definition.

Cavernio 06-19-2009 11:03 AM

Re: Love, what is it?
 
Quote:

Originally Posted by Frozen Beat (Post 3075839)
If my mom sold me into slavery, then okay. I hate her then. No love left at all.

Missing the point of the example. Would you hate your mom more than your slaver?
Do you honestly think you'd only hate her, and not love her anymore? What would you feel if you were to think about times when she protected you, showed her love for you, after you'd been sold into slavery? Thinking things like that would hurt like hell, and it would fuel my hatred for her even more.

richhhhhard 07-14-2009 09:29 PM

Re: Love, what is it?
 
This is an easy one!
Love is selfishness. You can make it as flowery as you want, with beautiful words and emotions, but in the end love is just a strong desire for something. When you want something so bad that you can't see living without it, it is often called "true love." Is dying for something really selfless though? You are still doing it for yourself. You WANT that person to live more than yourself. That's not very beautiful though is it? But just consider WHY you would rather give up your life than a loved one. If they died in your place how would you feel? Wouldn't you be miserable? Why would you want to continue living knowing that you would be miserable? In the end, isnt dying for someone pretty selfish too, cause how are they going to feel after you die? You can say that they will get over it, and get to continue living, but you don't KNOW that they will get over it. You don't consider their thoughts or feelings on the situation, because your own mind is all you understand.

In the end there is nothing "selfless" about love, or any other emotion for that matter.

AssNinja4759 10-2-2009 01:31 PM

Re: Love, what is it?
 
haha, love.. i'm going to sum this up (if it hasn't already) in a sentence.. Love is the connection that two people feel towards each other, regardless of age, sex, race, creed, religion, etc etc etc.
so yea. doesn't really take a whole lot to think about love when it really comes down to the X's and O's of the topic, eh?


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