What Is Love?

alcyone said:
Maybe its all just chemistry...
http://people.howstuffworks.com/love6.htm
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(...or alchemy !)

K, just read it. The link was interesting on what happens when someone is in love. I don't think the same reactions occur out of other types of love, do you? (I love spaggetti carbonara or your purse or that scent or that book I just finished.)

Take symbols of love ... the simple rose and how color energies can represent the type of love from Wikipedia
Red Roses: passion, love; vitality, feeling of being alive; masculine or active energy; creative projects

White Roses: purity, innocence; acceptance; unconditional love; feminine or passive energy; initiation of new members, construction projects

Black (or Withered) Roses: love is gone or over; disaster; depression; death; problem discussions; emergency meetings

Pink Roses: gentleness; softness; thankfulness; loving and supportive friendship; awards and honors

Yellow Roses: compassion; camaraderie; free-flowing conversations; joy and security; social affairs; dinners; intellectual lectures

Orange Roses: enthusiasm; fascination; optimism; planning meetings

Blue Roses: spiritual longing; promise of a perfect world; group meditations

Golden (or Gilded) Roses: completion of important project; perfection of oneself; invocation of cosmic energy; invocation of past masters

The rose information was quoted directly from Wikipedia and after it, whoever wrote it put in the following disclaimer :
"This entire goddamned section needs citation." lol. However, the psychology of color does impact how we perceive the world, I believe, as well.

(My husband always gives me yellow. It's his favorite color. I love yellow roses. It is also the hardest color for the eye to process. Can be jarring. Good study color, but I digress...)
 
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If you stretch the article...you can infer that all love stems from some sort of chemical reaction in the brain.

If there wasn't some sort of evolutional benefit for the species, there wouldn't be the love types that you are discussing.
 
alcyone said:
If you stretch the article...you can infer that all love stems from some sort of chemical reaction in the brain.

If there wasn't some sort of evolutional benefit for the species, there wouldn't be the love types that you are discussing.
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THAT is a great concept. So, what you are saying is that there are the evolutionary benefits of love because (beyond survival of the species) it may be to the benefit of mankind to love. (It also can be good for your health, as long as it is healthy love.)

And under certain conditions, the brain is capable of producing love (or chemical reaction) ! So, when we mean that there is a chemistry between people, normally that would be more of a romantic connection, but if we extend this meaning it could reveal other forms of connection, respect, friendship...which are different forms of love.
 
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Of course there are evolutionary benefits of 'love'.

Respect, friendship, mates, children, parents....they all form a community. A support system. We are as strong as our support system. The better a community, the stronger it is, the more likely the young are to survive to adulthood.

Furthermore, we fight for what we love, no? We will fight more fiercely and ferociously in the defense of our loved ones than for those we really don't care about.
 
alcyone said:
We are as strong as our support system. The better a community, the stronger it is, the more likely the young are to survive to adulthood. .
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So you don't recognise a person's ability to rise through adversity?
 
Describe the types of adversity you wish me to address.

Are we talking about something self-inflicted as in addiction?

Are we talking about environmental adversity as in Katrina, the tsunami, earthquakes etc?

Are you referring to those people born to addict mothers and those with abusive fathers (or parents) in the worst dregs of our society who persevere through school, go to college, and become wealthy, powerful influential people?

Cancer survivors? Horrible accident victims?

All of us go through some sorts of adversity. We bend and stand through it, we drift among it, or we break under it. There are very few people who go through adversity completely alone with no one else to assist, support or rely on.

How is it inferred that I would be against people who can rise through it? There are more people who cannot than those who do. Those who do are the ones who are more likely to make their communities better and stronger places.
 
alcyone said:
All of us go through some sorts of adversity. We bend and stand through it, we drift among it, or we break under it. There are very few people who go through adversity completely alone with no one else to assist, support or rely on.
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True to some, not all. Sometimes, communities aren't healthy for one individual, whereas others may be perfectly content within that same framework or structure. INFJ's can be a good example of the former. Loving environments, imo, help the INFJ thrive. I personally see both the necessity of community and the ability of it to harm the individual spirit if the rules and boundaries are not clear, but I hold my own beliefs on the matter. Suum Cuique.

How does this relate to the thread on what is love? It has to also do with creating a community that allows for the fundamental dignity of members. Some have to earn it. Others have to establish it. Others have to re-establish it. Trust isn't integral. Love is, imho, if we so choose.

Another thing that is absolutely striking to me is that, I believe, that most people forget that we as humans are fundamentally powerful. We make decisions from moment to moment without realizing this power. Our power lies in our choices in our thoughts and behavior. We own it. It does certainly help to have a healthy support system, as long as we also teach that we are a product of our own choices and reactions.

There are also other things that help knowing, like, 70% of arguments occur when people are simply tired. :)
 
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I think all the kinds of love blend together and complement one another. I'm not just talking about dsire and lust here as really don't equate them much with love although I do think many us people are overcome by them and then spend years, maybe even lifetimes trying to justify them as love in our own minds... anyways, here is a poem about friendship that I wrote that I do equate with love and I don't even mean only love between people because love is vaster than that. Even if you love nature, you are friends with it, even if you love your own mind, your intellect and your psyche and your subconcsious and your dreams, you are friends with it, or your psyche is splintered and needs healing - dreams can be your friends in achieving this as well...

Friendship is patience, sharing, giving
Neither bragging, nor stooping to lying nor deceiving
Looking for no profit of it's own, but acting
accordingly in each moment with truth and understanding

It acts in kindness always, with lack of arrogance
not seeking recompense, never holding grudges
but with heart of forgiveness and acceptance
never failing, never losing faith nor trust

But having said this, it is in truth transcendent
of any time or space or words
for it is the reality, the faith, the hope, the power
It is the healing of the world; It's Love

I disagree with one thing that others usually say in that
I do NOT believe it needs to be of the "mutual" kind...
Amongst those who walk not in Love, WE still can...
...and thereby, we can... our true hearts, find.

Of course, if it IS mutual, that is a most special touch
and so much more power could that make
but who can think like this? Wouldn't that shake
our internal preconceptions of this world just a bit too much?
 
HolySmoke said:
I think, quite honestly, that the answer is simple and right in front of us. That is what is so amusing, yet tragic about it. Love simply exists. It is everywhere. Even where there is pain, there is opportunity for it. Where there is confusion, there is still the possibility of it. It is a matter of seeing it and accepting it. We should not be ashamed as humans to love. Indeed, it is our right.

Now, God, on the other hand, is unknowable because God or the other mysteries represent everything that is and is not, so humans have no capacity to understand it all completely, but one version (or thumbprint) of it. That's what makes us argue the same point over and over throughout the ages. Each has their own version and if they don't they have the bibles version or whatever religious institution to guide them. It is all good as long as no one is harmed.

...But love can be known and understood quite easily. We just need to remind ourselves of the obvious. It is part of who we are or who we are capable of being at any given moment.
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I liked this response the best, because at some point we are stubborn and don't act on our feelings, nor choose to forgive because your still expressing tenderness when your uncomfortable.
 
HolySmoke said:
(...or alchemy !)

Take symbols of love ... the simple rose and how color energies can represent the type of love from Wikipedia
Red Roses: passion, love; vitality, feeling of being alive; masculine or active energy; creative projects

White Roses: purity, innocence; acceptance; unconditional love; feminine or passive energy; initiation of new members, construction projects

Black (or Withered) Roses: love is gone or over; disaster; depression; death; problem discussions; emergency meetings

Pink Roses: gentleness; softness; thankfulness; loving and supportive friendship; awards and honors

Yellow Roses: compassion; camaraderie; free-flowing conversations; joy and security; social affairs; dinners; intellectual lectures

Orange Roses: enthusiasm; fascination; optimism; planning meetings

Blue Roses: spiritual longing; promise of a perfect world; group meditations

Golden (or Gilded) Roses: completion of important project; perfection of oneself; invocation of cosmic energy; invocation of past masters
Click to expand...


I consider this a tip...I'm gonna use this:m1:
 
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I haven't kept up with the thread, so pardon me if this has already been suggested.

Love just is. Love is a state of existence? And how good we feel and how bad we feel are indications of how in and out of tune with it we are?
 
Pristinegirl said:
This is what I percieve love to be, and it cannot be explained better through aesthetics. It is a discovery commercial. 'The world is just awesome'.


[youtube]V5BxymuiAxQ[/youtube]
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I LOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOVE it!!!!!!! That's the first time I've seen that commercial!


:m032:
 
... baby don't hurt me.. don't hurt me... no more..?
 
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