what is love?

Posted By my friend GreatWhale on my post

 

When love beckons to you, follow him,
Though his ways are hard and steep.
And when his wings enfold you yield to him,
Though the sword hidden among his pinions may wound you.
And when he speaks to you believe in him,
Though his voice may shatter your dreams
as the north wind lays waste the garden.

For even as love crowns you so shall he crucify you. Even as he is for your growth so is he for your pruning.
Even as he ascends to your height and caresses your tenderest branches that quiver in the sun,
So shall he descend to your roots and shake them in their clinging to the earth.

Like sheaves of corn he gathers you unto himself.
He threshes you to make you naked.
He sifts you to free you from your husks.
He grinds you to whiteness.
He kneads you until you are pliant;
And then he assigns you to his sacred fire, that you may become sacred bread for God's sacred feast.

All these things shall love do unto you that you may know the secrets of your heart, and in that knowledge become a fragment of Life's heart.

But if in your fear you would seek only love's peace and love's pleasure,
Then it is better for you that you cover your nakedness and pass out of love's threshing-floor,
Into the seasonless world where you shall laugh, but not all of your laughter, and weep, but not all of your tears.
Love gives naught but itself and takes naught but from itself.
Love possesses not nor would it be possessed;
For love is sufficient unto love.

When you love you should not say, "God is in my heart," but rather, "I am in the heart of God."
And think not you can direct the course of love, for love, if it finds you worthy, directs your course.

Love has no other desire but to fulfill itself.
But if you love and must needs have desires, let these be your desires:
To melt and be like a running brook that sings its melody to the night.
To know the pain of too much tenderness.
To be wounded by your own understanding of love;
And to bleed willingly and joyfully.
To wake at dawn with a winged heart and give thanks for another day of loving;
To rest at the noon hour and meditate love's ecstasy;
To return home at eventide with gratitude;
And then to sleep with a prayer for the beloved in your heart and a song of praise upon your lips.

-Gibran Khalil Gibran

 

-
> "Love is patient and kind;
> love does not envy or boast;
> it is not arrogant or rude.
> It does not insist on its own way;
> it is not irritable or resentful;
> it does not rejoice at wrongdoing,
> but rejoices with the truth.
> Love bears all things,
> believes all things,
> hopes all things,
> endures all things.
> Love never ends.

 

To me, Love is when you unconsciously put someone elses well being before your own. Some examples of what i perceive as love.

Today i helped my mum move house. Despite appearances she is not a well woman, she had major surgery due to cancer not long ago and she tries her hardest to live life like she used to but it just damages her. Instinctively i forced her to stay home while i did all the hard work, i didn't even think about it. She may do my head in, but i love her.

There was a time when i got into an arguement and nearly into a fight with someone bigger and a whole lot meaner looking than me, just because his dog attacked mine. Its not a person, but i unconsciously put the dogs well being before my own because i love it.

In a real example, when i was in love with my best mate, his gf made a right tit of him and proper damaged him emotionally. I ended up almost getting into a fight with her new bf because i refused to let her get away with hurting him.

Normally i'm a quiet and reserved guy, so for me to argue and get into fights is quite dramatic haha. So in my eyes, Love isn't all of those giddy feelings and puppy eyes, Its the unconscious desire to protect someone.

 

Love it something I want to experience. ;( That's what that is. lol.

 

I LOVE this. It's astoundingly "scary" how much it resounds with me.

I remember the first that I read this, I was in tears.

 

Baby don't hurt me, don't hurt me, no more

 

"Baby, don't hurt me. Don't hurt me no more."

It was bound to happen..

Commence the head bobbing.

 

I'm sorry, but this is exactly what went through my head when I read the title. :lol:

 

and i quote

 

Everybody beat me to it.


Well at first I was just going to say love is just chemical and hormonal responses. But then that big chunk of text up there really sang true for me.

 

I like this!

 

Love is confusion, pain, sadness, and absolute euphoria. It's like nothing else in the world.

 

love is something you dont plan to do or feel. it just happens. sometimes at the wrong time, sometimes at the right time, sometimes with the wrong person, sometimes with the right person. its unpredictable.

 

Love is acceptance, happiness, knowledge that they care for who you are, not what you are, and the assurance that you share a bond and mean something to someone.

 

Just curious. Are there different levels or types of love? The phrase 'i love you' resonates different feelings depending on the person i say it to. To my brother it's simply implied and very internal. To my dog, she changes my attitude. And to a significant other, it'd be more romantic. I could also say that I love a stranger because that stranger may be the mother of the doctor who saves my future child or something. I wish there were more words to describe types of love. What does it mean to love someone you've been dating for two weeks vs for two years?

(in my weird hippie mind)

 

As usual, the Greeks beat us to it:

Greek words for love - Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

Three or four types, well-explained and resonant with truth

 

I think it heavily depends on the nature of the love or lack hereof you received from family/early life

 

I think that in order to understand love, you have to know the difference between loving someone and loving the idea of them. During the first few months of a relationship or the "Honeymoon phase" you don't necessarily love the person just yet. You love the idea of them and some people tend to put up this facade of how they want to look and then there's the real side of them. You'll catch on to their annoying habits, they'll catch on to yours so it's up to you as a couple to work things out and figure out how to get over the small situations.