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Can Love Be Defined? Is It Possible Even?

crossfire

crossfire

LHP Mercuræn Feminist Heretic Bully ☿
Premium Member
One of my favorite quotes from C.S. Lewis:

"This is one of the miracles of love: It gives a power of seeing through its own enchantments and yet not being disenchanted."​
 
A

Acim

Revelation all the time
Carlita said:
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.
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Yay, a discussion! Or something I find worthy of discussion.

Unconditional love (which in reality is easily shortened to Love) has zero issue with giving everything one has to anyone/everyone. Hence the 'unconditional' part.

Growing in awareness toward unconditional love, thus treating love as conditional, does (in my experience) have issues with giving everything away. I think of it as foolish if giving 'things' away and not truly ready or willing to let it go. Lot more could be said on this, but for sake of discussion, I'll just leave it there.

I will add that I take slight issue with selflessness. I think of actual Love as strengthening (sense of) Self. A full awareness of Self, and identification that all souls are intrinsically connected to Me, through Spirit.

As I have experienced (unconditional) Love for more than a fleeting moment, what is given away is actually shared. It is not earthly things, but at that level, earthly things are put in what even on hindsight strikes me as proper perspective. In essence, you never 'have' an earthly thing. I find saying that and truly understanding it, are not quite the same from a perspective of love is, at least sometimes, conditional. While it is actually a distorted version of Love, it is really a distorted understanding of Self. The idea that you can lose by giving anything away is one of the fundamental things that seemingly diametrically oppose actual Love. With actual Love, the idea of giving everything to everyone is seen, naturally, as source of strength, for what is Real (and what you truly have) can never be lost. In a sense, the only way to realize you have certain things (Reality of Spirit) is to give it away, but as that kind of comes off as nonsensical, I find this giving is actually akin to teaching. Doesn't take theism of any sort to understand that teaching doesn't result in loss of knowledge by the teacher. Though if it were actual Knowledge, the Teacher would readily understand how teaching/giving would strengthen their own Self. To me, in essence, the Teacher would realize they are also Student in any relationship where Teaching is deemed worthy, which arguably is all situations.

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.
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I cannot deny that the hierarchal aspect of any spiritual path does throw me for a loop, some times. And agree that our struggle with hierarchy (of any sort) seems to come down to "I'm naturally this way" yet it often appears self professed leaders contrast that with, "but I want you to be this other way." In my opinion/experience, you don't need God to see that at work.

For me the kicker is that God has no opposite, no opposing force. I'm still growing in this understanding, but do feel I get it, for the most part, intellectually. Experientially, not so much or not consistently.
 
McBell

McBell

Unbound
melisaross85 said:
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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Love is defined all the time.
in fact, I suspect that each person has, just like the word god, their own definition for the word love means.
 
McBell

McBell

Unbound
Acim said:
Similar to God and Love.
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The difference being that god and love have different meanings, not just added baggage.

If you want to further this particular tangent You should start a thread so we are not hijacking this one.
 
Shadow Wolf

Shadow Wolf

Certified People sTabber & Business Owner
The definition of love is something that I do agree with the Greeks on, and that there are more than one type of love.
Agape, the selfless love for your fellow humans and god
Eros, the love of sexual passion
Philia, the love of friends
Storge, the love of parents and offspring
 
A

Acim

Revelation all the time
Demonslayer said:
Sort of yes, humor first is my mantra.

But on a serious-ish note, wouldn't the Devil be the opposing force to God?
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There are lots of things/entities that are arguably opposing forces to God, but none of them from God's perspective. It's essentially inconceivable once (actual, unconditional) Love is (fully) realized.

Not saying I (currently) have full realization, but do feel I mostly get this in an intellectual way and feel capable of discussing it.
 
Akivah

Akivah

Well-Known Member
melisaross85 said:
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?
Click to expand...

The word Love has many different meanings for many different contexts. There is love to a committed spouse, love to a child, love to a stranger, love to a celebrity, love for food, love of a sunset, love to a time, love to a place, love to a parent, etc. Since the word Love is so vast, we would do well to come up with new words to express the proper meaning in the proper context.
 
Riverwolf

Riverwolf

Amateur Rambler / Proud Ergi
Premium Member
melisaross85 said:
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?
Click to expand...

It can be, the problem is that the English word "love" is too all-encompassing to be super-useful beyond casual conversation, where the meaning is usually clear from context. Other languages which have multiple words for the various things that "love" encompasses are probably better suited to these discussions.
 
arthra

arthra

Baha'i
There are several definitions of love:

O thou who art attracted by the fragrances of God! Know thou assuredly that:

Love is the mystery of divine revelation;

Love is the effulgent manifestation;

Love is the spiritual fulfilment;

Love is the light of the Kingdom;

Love is the breath of the Holy Spirit inspired into the human spirit;

Love is the cause of the Manifestation of the Truth (God) in the phenomenal world;

Love is the necessary tie proceeding from the realities of things through divine creation;

Love is the means of the most great happiness in both the material and spiritual worlds;

Love is a light of guidance in the dark night;

Love is the bond between the Creator and the creature in the inner world;

Love is the cause of development to every enlightened man;

Love is the greatest law in this vast universe of God;

Love is the one law which causes and controls order among the existing atoms;

Love is the universal magnetic power between the planets and the stars shining in the lofty firmament;

Love is the cause of unfoldment, to a searching mind, of the secrets deposited in the universe by the Infinite;

Love is the spirit of life in the bountiful body of the world;

Love is the cause of the civilization of nations in this mortal world;

Love is the highest honour to every righteous nation.

The people who are confirmed therein are indeed glorified by the Supreme Concourse, the angels of heaven and the dwellers in the Kingdom of Abhá. But, if the hearts of the people become void of the divine grace-the love of God-they wander in the desert of ignorance, descend to the depths of ruin and fall to the abyss of despair where there is no refuge. They are like insects living on the lowest plane.

This is the path of Bahá.

This is the religion of Bahá.

This is the law of Bahá.

He who has not this has no portion with Bahá.

'Abdu'l-Bahá: Tablets of Abdul-Baha Abbas, Vol. III, p. 325.



(Also recorded in - Star of the West, Star of the West - 5)

 
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