melisaross85
Member
Lots of question lately as to what love is. So what do you think? How could you define love? Can love be defined even? Or is it too large to be defined in human terms?
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Can Love Be Defined? Is It Possible Even?
- Thread starter melisaross85
- Start date
Probably too large to define in human terms but we do try.
love1
/ləv/ fondness, tenderness, warmth, intimacy; beloved, loved one, love of one's life, dear, dearest;
Then there is the love of money and things material.
" I love to go fishing".
"for the love of money"
"I love Delores."
Love of self.
Ad infinitum.
love1
/ləv/ fondness, tenderness, warmth, intimacy; beloved, loved one, love of one's life, dear, dearest;
Then there is the love of money and things material.
" I love to go fishing".
"for the love of money"
"I love Delores."
Love of self.
Ad infinitum.
When you break it down into different types....Unconditional love, and then love, where it is a positive reflection with things, ideas, people, etc.
Ouch... that sounds more like a definition for codependency to me. Wonder if Heinlein had issues with that?
I believe it's too large to be accurately defined / described in human terms. But doesn't mean we can't try, or at least convey a basis to help with understanding.
Love:
1 the unconditional bond, that binds all of Reality in a perfect whole
2 the default, eternal aspect of a soul and/or all that is Spirit
3 the ultimate purpose of miracles, restoring full awareness (omniscience) to consciousness
Unveiled Artist
Veteran Member
Love is unconditional love for a stranger. It is when you can put a stranger over your family. Your family over your spouse. Your spouse over yourself.
It means taking the I out and making it a We.
I don't know if I'd call it love, though. Love sounds more like an emotion. Wholeness or experiencing one's inner being among community or oneself. Peace, maybe.
Edit: I find if we have the unconditional love as I described above, that love for a stranger affect our relations with other people. That will strengthen our love for our family and then spouse and then self.
If love for yourself comes first, I find that understandable but unconditional. Only because we are not an island. Why do we have to be loners if we want to make a world a better place? It takes a community not a one man fight.
Love is putting someone else's happiness before your own. It's caring for another person as if they were an extension of yourself, and feeling connected on a level deeper than the flesh. Love is complete trust and complete honesty, no secrets, no hesitations. Love is seeing the flaws in someone but realizing they're just part of what makes them perfect.
melisaross85
Member
I agree it is too much to define in human terms but we sure do try.
melisaross85
Member
Well said. But there is even more to it I believe.
melisaross85
Member
So what is the real love out of all loves? Or are they all real? If so which ones are good and which ones are not?When you break it down into different types....Unconditional love, and then love, where it is a positive reflection with things, ideas, people, etc.
melisaross85
Member
I agree with most of that well said
melisaross85
Member
First off your approach is backwards in my view. You should not allow yourself to be distracted by science vs. bible debates because you don't have to accept any of these views to embrace the christian faith.
If, as you are suggesting, the law of evolution defines love then explain the following conflict: In love the strong help the weak and bless them ect. ect. In evolution which goes hand in hand with natural law, the strong devour the weak.
There is only real love, you can't say you love something when you don't, else it just isn't love.
Love is a chemical reaction in the brain from seeing something as a positive reflection, hate is an opposite negative reflection....
Love will help us heal, makes us more positive; whereas hate torments us.
agape love:
Definition: Agape is selfless, sacrificial, unconditional love, the highest of the four types of love in the Bible.
This Greek word and variations of it are found throughout the New Testament. Agape perfectly describes the kind of loveJesus Christ has for his Father and for his followers:
Definition: Agape is selfless, sacrificial, unconditional love, the highest of the four types of love in the Bible.
This Greek word and variations of it are found throughout the New Testament. Agape perfectly describes the kind of loveJesus Christ has for his Father and for his followers:
melisaross85
Member
But what if a stranger wants you to give them something? If you are always to put others first then you have to give it to them. But what if they ask for one things after another until they take everything you have? How do you defend yourself if you must keep that definition of love without breaking it? Couldn't be perfect love could it? Thats why you need a God to tell you when to give and when to withhold and you can then use that to defend youself from this kind of attack.
Unveiled Artist
Veteran Member
True. Many people take advantage of unconditional love. We dont need to give or take to display unconditional love to a stranger. Its as simple as a smile "without" expectations in return. Puting others first means thinking of their well-being before your own. When children grow to adults, most parents dont cease to be parents. A lot will die in their child's place no matter how, as an adult, he or she has taken advantage of their love. Its like that.
I know there should be a healthy balance since we dont live ina charity society. Its a utopia.
God doesnt play a part in my life. It comes naturally from life, my experiences, prayers, and general interconnection and mindfulness of my own mind, spirit, and physical well-being. Spiritual heirarchy is not healthy for me. It does the opposite of letting me see unconditional love because that type of love is unequal. There shouldnt be stranger, family, spouse, self. We are one people we just relate differently. The spirits are no different in heirarchy because to others they are supernatural. That doesnt make sense.
I think that is why we struggle for that sense of being because it is conflicting with what we are influenced with. Its like the soul saying "Im naturally this way" but to many ex christians, god is tellling them "but I want you to be that way"
Thats not love. To compare our point of views not to challenge (italics unrelated to point) your beliefs.
Aiviu
Active Member
We are meant to understand that love is a third entity. A spirit from two persons who love each other. To accept that the third entity is behind the one you truely assigned with this love.
EtuMalku
Abn Iblis ابن إبليس
Firstly, why on earth would I want to embrace the Christian faith?
Secondly, as pointed out this is not agape, but a survival mechanism, sexual attraction, dominating males and females vie for position to mate, next comes the nurturing phase as children are reared, then in older age caring for one another. This assures the propagation of the human species as well as many others.
Being kind to the less fortunate is not necessarily love, though it perhaps could be in general for mankind.