What is love? - discuss.
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Peace,
Some men have neanderthal brains when it comes to romantic stuff. Our idea of love is coming home with a piece of meat. Ogg!!
God bless you
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Good question. Plato once said "Love is a serious mental disease", sometimes I have to agree with him ;D. If you talk about love between man and woman than I think love is a chemical process in a body that creates emotions, like drugs, people become addicted to each other.
How true '( brickwall
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What is love? Baby, don't hurt me.
Don't hurt me.
No more.Always wanted to post that. Love is a bond of affection/likability I'd say at the very core. Takes on different colours depending on the people involved. Where it starts getting messy is in regard to the expectations...that's why unconditional love is usually rare and confused with a lot of other things. Very few could claim to love unconditionally...and to have it be true, not sure if that even is a good thing. Duty and love may be confused there. Then again, we tend to place that sort of love on a pedestal, as an ideal...to love without expectation is the purest sort and all that. Like I said, not sure if that is healthy. In my view, a healthy love would consist of give and take which also allows for growth, adjustment and adaptation. Can the other sort also allow for that? Unlikely but possible in certain rare circumstances and since it would depend on a very particular set of people and circumstances, I would consider it an anomaly and not something that is very practical to strive/hope for. if it happens it happens kinda thing, and whether it leads to a happy life is another thing.
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Love is not the same as subservience or blindeness. You can love unconditinally, that does not mean that you are going to lick the ground the loved one or ones treads. You may be even more severe with those you love, precisely because you do not exact conditions from them. Of course it may involve duty, just as it may involve beauty or joy or learning. Love is a channel for growth adn wisdom, the best one. There is nothing one learns better than what one learns motivated by love, any kind of love, romantic, or fraternal or universal, when the feeling ir real one would go through things that might otherwise not handle.
And all kinds of love, I think, are faces of the divine love, the longing for fusion and identifying with Being.
Salaam
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Love is not the same as subservience or blindeness. You can love unconditinally, that does not mean that you are going to lick the ground the loved one or ones treads. You may be even more severe with those you love, precisely because you do not exact conditions from them.
Of course, love even unconditional doesn't have to involve subservience and/or blindness. By unconditional I meant nothing another person does can change the love they feel for them. This I consider unrealistic mostly and/or applicable to a very small set of specific people in very peculiar circumstances. Severity with those you love is a different thing...one may have more at stake or feel/care more for those they love thus may be compelled to act a certain way with them and so on but I am confused as to why one may be more severe with those they love 'precisely because' they do not exact conditions from them? They obviously want them to do certain things, or there is no need for more severity with them as opposed to anyone else. There are still expectations, and those expectations are magnified in a sense because we love them so much.E.g. Neighbours children and one's own children are playing in your house and there is a fight. One would tend to be more severe with one's own than the others because a) you can b) they are guests and your own should know better c) you want them to have better manners regardless of how others raise their kids...doesn't mean you show them severity precisely because you have no expectations/conditions on your love?
On from that, say your kid grows up to be a monster. Would you still love the kid the way you always did as he is now? Or would your love now take into account what he used to be or what you thought him as, rather than the reality? One can love kids when they are kids,it's kinda instinctive, when they grow up it becomes a different thing as one is dealing with an adult, albeit one we had a hand in nurturing. I know in what cases I've seen, that a child growing up to be jerk in varying shades is loved in ways that really have nothing to do with reality but with our memories or images of what we think of them as or what we want them to be. Is that love, sure it may well be. Are we fooling ourselves? Depends.
Change the kid into a betraying husband now, and the love we felt for the man is by the roadside, but there are a few women out there who will still claim to love the man without any changes regardless of what he did...fewer still who will say philandering is a part of him, it's endearing and I love all of him the way he is...would a mother say that? Maybe. Would his wife? Not particularly. Would this be subservient or blind? In many cases yes it might. In some cases however the possibility exists that the person knows and still genuinely loves. It may be rare but we can't strike that out. It's this type of love that I bring up in my previous post. I don't think it's healthy to love like that in my personal opinion, maybe because I can't imagine loving someone like that, but who am I to judge what another is capable of or not. If they feel unchanging love forever regardless of how screwed up someone is...it is possible, just rare. I don't find that an ideal/pure love however, it just is a form of love.
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That is the challenge. To love without contitioning it to expectations. To trust that there every person is redeemable. Not to pprove of what they do, but to try to do your duty, precisely because you love them. If they are monsters, they must be damned difficult to love, but if for any reason anybody loves them, the challenge is to do whatever one can to bring them out of monsterhood, which may be feasible or not. But that is what faith is about and that is what love is about.
I am not saying that if you cannot unmonster somebody that you do not love that somebody or that somehow you are not being capable of love. I mean that it is a challenge, a very tall one. Fortunately there are not all that many monsters.
Other thn that I believe that love comes from God, from our destiny... That we are meant to love whoever we love and the way we do. I do not think we choose whom we love. We get those people that are meant for us, so much for "good" as gor "bad" and in between. We get the experiences we need. And there are loves that are forever and others that have a certain duration. Like with studies. You get trown on you a certain subject for a certain time. You cannot refuse, you must pass that subject.
That is why I also think that one must never think that falling in love is an error, or to have a friend who turns out bad is an error. Love is never an error. It is part of our life's "project" and we must honour the challenges it presents. Fail is not a dishonour, but running away is. It is like laying an egg.
As to being more severe with those you love, it is out of duty. You owe that to yourself, to the relationship you have with that person. You are not in his or her life for worse, but for better. At least I hope. Although there are people who anybody loves or hates, it is always for worse, but that is like the joke abour Jesus and man with cancer.
Salaam
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Interesting thoughts as usual, huruf. I suppose for me, it's difficult to understand the concept of redemption based on repeated actions that are destructive. Some part of it is asking why should it be a duty and/or why surround oneself with toxicity...For those that have no choice in loving someone (some might say of course you have a choice), it's something that they do regardless. If done with a higher purpose in mind, knowing full well what the person is and sticking to that all their lives, well, they have all my respect because it definitely is something that denotes a strength of character one usually just reads about in legends.
Duty, joy and learning etc are different aspects I think, that can be factors in whichever relationship one has with something. What I meant when I said that in a previous post was, one may feel beholden to love their family out of a sense of duty, but is that really love? Can one love something out of duty? Not sure, I think it would be difficult. Can one love something because of the joy it brings? Yes, more likely. Learning is across the board. Can you love something because it's beautiful? Yes, more likely, also vice versa, more you love something, the more beautiful it becomes. Then again, there are cases where we can't really pinpoint why we love someone, we just know that we do. Obviously, there must be something there, some underlying reasons why we feel the way we do, I can't be satisfied with well, it just is...but yeah, figuring what that something may be is interesting because it points to a process and gives it a more rational aspect than a mysterious emotion that can strike anyone at any time unaware and we are totally helpless in the face of it.
I kind of disagree regarding choosing who to love being fated, in that case, we might as well say everything is fated to be a certain way, which may or may not be true. I believe our choices are ours and of course, we are meant to learn from everything, even those we choose to love (even if it seems like we had no choice) whether or not it ends up being amazing or awful. Love definitely is a learning experience like other emotions, but it tends to overshadow a lot of the others probably because there is just so much built up around it making it an integral part of our lives as a driving force...disappointment too is just as important I'd say, but it's love's evil step sister and not as glamorous
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If God is love;
and love is blind;
and Stevie Wonder is blind;
that means...Stevie Wonder is God.confused
Edit Lol, unfortunately I did not come up with this quote myself, but I am not sure who it is attributed to...
Edit 2 I do not actually think Stevie Wonder is God, but I do think he is a tremendously all-round awesome person 'I just called to say I love you' - Genius.
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Interesting thoughts as usual, huruf. I suppose for me, it's difficult to understand the concept of redemption based on repeated actions that are destructive. Some part of it is asking why should it be a duty and/or why surround oneself with toxicity...For those that have no choice in loving someone (some might say of course you have a choice), it's something that they do regardless. If done with a higher purpose in mind, knowing full well what the person is and sticking to that all their lives, well, they have all my respect because it definitely is something that denotes a strength of character one usually just reads about in legends.
Duty, joy and learning etc are different aspects I think, that can be factors in whichever relationship one has with something. What I meant when I said that in a previous post was, one may feel beholden to love their family out of a sense of duty, but is that really love? Can one love something out of duty? Not sure, I think it would be difficult. Can one love something because of the joy it brings? Yes, more likely. Learning is across the board. Can you love something because it's beautiful? Yes, more likely, also vice versa, more you love something, the more beautiful it becomes. Then again, there are cases where we can't really pinpoint why we love someone, we just know that we do. Obviously, there must be something there, some underlying reasons why we feel the way we do, I can't be satisfied with well, it just is...but yeah, figuring what that something may be is interesting because it points to a process and gives it a more rational aspect than a mysterious emotion that can strike anyone at any time unaware and we are totally helpless in the face of it.
I kind of disagree regarding choosing who to love being fated, in that case, we might as well say everything is fated to be a certain way, which may or may not be true. I believe our choices are ours and of course, we are meant to learn from everything, even those we choose to love (even if it seems like we had no choice) whether or not it ends up being amazing or awful. Love definitely is a learning experience like other emotions, but it tends to overshadow a lot of the others probably because there is just so much built up around it making it an integral part of our lives as a driving force...disappointment too is just as important I'd say, but it's love's evil step sister and not as glamorous
Some people may choose who to love, the same way that they choose the home they want to live in. I do not see anything wrong with that. BUT that is some people not all people. Not by far all people. Many people may still marry and be married and have a "reasonable" family life. BUT some people, not all people.
There are all kinds of people. For some people to choose whom you love is to drive Destiny-God-Fate, or whatever out of their lives, and also impossible. The fall in love and that is it. Satistically I think that the marriages that succeed one way or other is not significant, be it out of chosen love or be it out of fated love (if you want to call it that) all marriages are liable to fail and also to work out well. I have seen many examples of both.
People are different and we do not need a rule that makes anybody feel guilty or idiot for being different. It is like people who have a lot of physical energy and never stop doing everything, spanking the house and everything. Some times they think they are better because the work so much, but the fact is that they are made that way. It is not their merit, but their need, and it is cheating to make out of their need a rule for virtue.
So people who want to choose whom they love, fine, people who fall in love likes tons of bricks, fine. Love of God is for all of them and they enjoy some of God's gifts, to each her or his gift. And never forget to be thankful, no gift of God is poisoned.
Salaam
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Can you love something because it's beautiful? Yes, more likely, also vice versa, more you love something, the more beautiful it becomes.
Wow. So love is powerful then? Is not just some 'feeling'. It IS something and it DOES do things.
And if you don't love something it becomes weak or tired - or even ugly?
Hmmmm
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Body heat from 'emotional states'...
Researchers from Aalto University in Finland have revealed how emotions are experienced in the body.
http//3.bp.blogspot.com/-qRrQrkVSK-w/UsNFZS6_S2I/AAAAAAAACKI/DEQthz-iJMI/s640/love_meme.png
Whoever did it is at least trying to make a point about love being powerful anyway....
See more at http//www.naturalblaze.com/2013/12/research-team-reveals-how-emotions-are.
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I think that "love" is also a sign of the existence of God (the Creator),
and I tend to agree with this quote
"You will never find true love
until you first learn to love Allah"
I don't know whether that quote is right or not, but in my view, it seems to be right/true.
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I think that "love" is also a sign of the existence of God (the Creator),
and I tend to agree with this quote
"You will never find true love
until you first learn to love Allah"
I don't know whether that quote is right or not, but in my view, it seems to be right/true.
Peace,
The question was beautifully open ended and allowed for different opinions to unravel. I agree with your statement Java, not sure about the quote though. The Quran states per 3021 IT IS MOST DEFINITELY a SIGN
"And one of His signs is that He created mates for you from yourselves that you may find rest in them, and He put between you love and compassion; most surely there are signs in this for a people who reflect."
Forget those anonymous quotesWhat are we saying when we talk about love? Is it romanticism, compassion, affection I doubt lust. @ Sonny You must understand ins scientific terms almost anything can be reduced to chemical biological processes but how that connects to the emotion is left wanting. You cannot chemically quantify your level of affection! LoL - a boy
And affection from Us and purity, and he was fearing of Allah
And dutiful to his parents, and he was not a disobedient tyrant."Love/affection/compassion/kindness between brothers in the faith/relatives/siblings?
6414 O you who believe, from among your spouses and your children are enemies to you; so beware of them. And if you pardon, and overlook, and forgive, then God is Forgiver, Merciful.
3159 It was a mercy from God that you were soft towards them; had you been harsh and hard-hearted, they would have dispersed from you; so pardon them and ask forgiveness for them, and consult them in the matter; but when you are convinced, then put your trust in God; for God loves those who put their trust.
Love/ affection/compassion/kindness between strangers/poor/needy/traveler/etc..?
765 As for the pious, they will drink from a cup with the scent of musk.
766 A spring from which the servants of God drink, it gushes forth
abundantly.
767 They fulfill their vows, and they fear a Day whose consequences are widespread.
768 And they give food out of love to the poor and the orphan and the captive.
769 ?We only feed you seeking the face of God; we do not desire from you any reward or thanks.?
7610 ?We fear from our Lord a Day, which will be horrible and difficult.Or are we talking about a mixture of the above and romantic love?
Moses Love story, love at first sight?
2825-27
Then one of the two women came to him walking with shyness. She said, "Indeed, my father invites you that he may reward you for having watered for us." So when he came to him and related to him the story, he said, "Fear not. You have escaped from the wrongdoing people."
One of the women said, "O my father, hire him. Indeed, the best one you can hire is the strong and the trustworthy."
, "Indeed, I wish to wed you one of these, my two daughters, on that you serve me for eight years; but if you complete ten, it will be from you. And I do not wish to put you in difficulty. You will find me, if Allah wills, from among the righteous."She "had the hots" for Moses and her father realized quite soon. Moses accepted fairly quickly as well. Maybe it was his compassion in helping them without asking for anything in return and a combination of his strength but I see this as a story of Love at first sight.
Now I'm hoping I'm not making conjecture or inappropriate statements about believers but isn't this love story beautiful?Thanks
P.S. I am a hopeless romantic ;D
and forgive the mediocre translations just use as reference please -
I think that "love" is also a sign of the existence of God (the Creator),
and I tend to agree with this quote
"You will never find true love
until you first learn to love Allah"
The question was beautifully open ended and allowed for different opinions to unravel. I agree with your statement Java, not sure about the quote though.
I don't know whether that quote is right or not, but in my view, it seems to be right/true.
I agree with HP_TECH that the line is very open ended. Love is very powerful. The one who rejects it will always end up with bites. This is true for countries too.
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I thik every love is the love of God, butit may cometo us twisted through corruption.
If we think of love as the universal thing, coming from God an so on, we must look for it in the Qur'an, and i would say it is the rahma. The kind of love that is usually associated with somethig universal, ious and os on, the kind that we are fed through idealised preachingand so on. I think, for accuracy sake that we should stick to the Qur'anic words for that, sothat we know what we are exactly seaking about.
There are different words in the Qur'an that we translate as love. Widda is one, habba is another...
Salaam
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Salam
Was inspired one day as to the rationale the Creator creates. Ar-rahman & Ar-rahim are the reasons for creation. Since the actual meaning of those words are beyond our full comprehension, suffice to say love (may not be the accurate word) is part of those two attributes. The absence of those two attributes will bring the Creator's destructive attribute (I get this hint from At-Taubah).
Anyway, just to share. I may be completely wrong.
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Moses Love story, love at first sight?
2825-27
Then one of the two women came to him walking with shyness. She said, "Indeed, my father invites you that he may reward you for having watered for us." So when he came to him and related to him the story, he said, "Fear not. You have escaped from the wrongdoing people."
One of the women said, "O my father, hire him. Indeed, the best one you can hire is the strong and the trustworthy."
, "Indeed, I wish to wed you one of these, my two daughters, on that you serve me for eight years; but if you complete ten, it will be from you. And I do not wish to put you in difficulty. You will find me, if Allah wills, from among the righteous."She "had the hots" for Moses and her father realized quite soon. Moses accepted fairly quickly as well. Maybe it was his compassion in helping them without asking for anything in return and a combination of his strength but I see this as a story of Love at first sight. )
Hehe, I think that's a sweet analysis.
Now I'm hoping I'm not making conjecture or inappropriate statements about believers but isn't this love story beautiful?
Yes, I actually like the couple (Moses and his wife). )
But... if 'today' I'm being asked about what is love,
then perhaps this is my reaction... http//emoticoner.com/files/emoticons/crazy-monkey/crazy-monkey-emoticon-181.gif?1292792426
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crap someone said baby don't hurt me.
lolz
love is simple and hate is it's opposite.shaitan and his minions are enemies to you.
you want what is best for the things you love, you want to do the opposite of hurt them, you want to do the opposite of watching them suffer, you want to do the opposite dominating them.
saying like "I got mad love for so and so" are different kinds of love like I want to be among their helpers, while sayings like "I hate that @##^#$" show you want to be among his enemies and defeat-ers. or you want to share in victory with or over them.
there is a verse in the quran about recommending a good cause and sharing therein.
another love is roman love ("roman-tic" we still don't have a word for that seeing how the romans have been defeated and there way of life has passed away, yet they will return (surah rum).
if I were to think of a word it's bonding love, your life is equal to my life is respect, while your life is greater than my life is infatuation, the blending of these two ideals is romantic love after bonding is an objective. your your life is equal too and greater than mine and if our lives were bonded we can share in confort you from my life and I from your life, this is why making heat together is so similar to every dirt love making thing people do (and animals).in this world we were thrown because someone disobeyed almighty god, and it's sweat and toil, hard-work and compared to the garden of abode it's cold and alone, hugging, holding hands, kissing, and all sorts of intercourse and cutsy cuddling is just to transfer a feeling of warmth from one scared and alone creature to the next.
when I see snow I'm reminded of love because snow and cold like loneliness and ice-so-lation (it's so cold it can kill you lolz) push creatures to seek warmth and company, like getting closer to a fire.
like a fire love can burn you and seriously "denature" you, you cook and become cooked for life your nature may change you can become a "#$%#^#^4" lolz,
but it's the need of heat and the flowing of blood that drives us closer to the fire.aren't all you roman-tic "bonding love" hopes and dream built on a bunch of would(wood) any way.
ex I would do anything for .......someone come up with a better word than roman-tic love.