What is love?

I've been thinking about the concept of love alot recently,
Alot of people think its some kind of mystical and beautifull thing, maybe even the most beautfill thing that anyone could experience.
But after thinking about it, i'm wondering.
What if love is merely the result of a instinct to reproduce ourselves?
Nothing more then bestial sexual lust, for most people it is only this, for others its a combination of sexual lust and friendship with a certain person, wich they call true love. People say that love is beautifull, for me its one of the most selfish things in the world. Everything involving love is selfish, sexual lust is selfish, even creating new life (how beautifull this might sound) is selfish, why do people want to have children? just for the darn sake of it? I never want children to be born and suffer in a world like this, not in this society wich is ruled by bestial monkeys screaming for money and power.
Ofcourse anyone can claim that everything in the end is selfish, and maybe that is true, but i would never be able to find peace and beauty in something as selfish and bestial as love.. it's the drive of sexual lust that makes our blood boil under the curse of love, not some kind of mystical interconnection between two people.

 

The ability to see yourself in other things.


x

 

Love doesn't have to include some sort of underlying tones of sexual desire.

Haven't you ever had a pet you loved? Or a grandparent? Any family member really, or a close friend. And let's not forget the self-sacrificing love people express for their children.

 

A man made label on the laws of attraction.

 

I would sacrifice my life for my little brother if i had to, but that doesn't means i'm "in" love with him, maybe there is a difference between loving someone or being in love with someone. Someone could be close to your heart, but that doesn't means you are attracted to him.

 

well, I think not even attraction has to necessarily have to have a sexual connotation.

you could be attracted to your favorite chair, or might be more attracted to blue b/c it is your favorite color.

Although I definatly agree with you that there is a distinction to be made between loving someone and being in love with someone.

 

Baby don't hurt me?
Baby don't hurt me?
No more?

 

No doubt sexual love is only one kind.

But there are those evil mo********ers who deny love exists outside self interest. Even Mother Teresa they'll tell you, was only doing it to get her selfish ass into heaven.

Personally I don't believe thats so.

Perhaps one good definition might be 'to continue to do for others what is necessary without thought of any reward'. That could be seen as selfless love IMO.

 

Technically it is your brain firing signals to receptors due to a chemical reaction to stimuli.

 

I would go with this.

Or baby don't hurt me, don't hurt me, no more.
*edit: Dammit Hoatzin!

Devotion (brother) and companionship, or something of the likes?

 

well, if you ask me, I think that if love was as selfish and as easy as you are describing it, then there would be a lot more people "in love". and I don't necessarily think that being in love with someone is ruled by sexual lust. For me (this is coming from someone who has never be in love), I think love is finding someone who you see eye to eye with, (shared morals, similiar plans for what both parties want out of life, similiar views on what life is all about) who you see as your equal, and who you honestly care about, (meaning you are concerned with their well being as much as you are concerned with your own.)

As important as sex is, (because we are animals and all) relationships based around it usually aren't very healthy ones. I think of sex-based relationships as each party being more "in lust", not "in love", and probably not really going to work out in the long run.

Another thing I think love is about, is wanting to be a better person for the sake of your relationship. (ie: becoming sober if you are a substance abuser, working on anger if you have anger problems, etc)

this is just my two cents. my grandmom and grandpop, (who are both dead now), were so in love, that even when my grandad was incoherent at a nursing home, my gram still went there everyday, brought him lunch, watched him nap, etc. I highly doubt this was "lust driven", or "selfish", more like "true love".

(PS, everything I bolded, was to remind you that love isn't selfish, but beautiful)

 

Perfect answer.

 

Love is a strong feeling of affection.

 

To love someone is to feel joy and wish to share it with them.
Now, to be IN love with someone, well....I have no idea how that works.

 

love is the foundation upon which all existence is based.

romantic love is a fundamentally flawed concept, and really has nothing to do with sexual desires. your secondary purpose in life, as far the spine/brain stem is concerned, is to replicate. so, like warmie said, it will release chemicals and get you all giddy and high whenever you see that special someone with whom you are in love, in order to get you to fuck that someone and have their babies.

the selfishness you speak of is basically greed. hard wired into our brains, one could argue that every action, no matter how seemingly selfless, is rooted in and motivated by greed. although in my opinion that is a pretty grim outlook; if I do something nice for someone to make myself feel good, that someone still has something nice done for them.

so what is love? well, I liked xexon's answer. I like to say "the foundation of all existence" but that's not really saying much. some things are quite difficult to express in words.

 

That's just empathy, surely? I can see myself in other things without loving them. Like when someone's being a complete dick, but I know that, if I was in their situation, I'd be being just as much of a dick too, but it's still really annoying?

 

There's a difference in seeing someone as LIKE myself versus seeing someone AS myself.

 

I just had to perpetuate this.

 

Well yes, it is, but I don't think that's what xexon said.

 

Just a thought, but if love is the ability to see oneself in others, then wouldn't it really be self-love?

If you see them all as yourself, then it would almost certainly have to be self-love.

Personally I'd be more interested to know what people think constitutes love of the 'other'. Always assuming of course that we accept that others exist......