What is Love?
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Salam LoteTree,
Thank you for your comments. Always a great thing to see people putting across their views. Helps understanding the issue at hand better. Looking forward to your comments on the questions and clarifications that I've posed.
If you consider love as a state of being, then does that mean hate is also a state of being?
Perhaps there is only one emotion which is LOVE and HATE is the absence of LOVE?
Hate being a love absentee is absurd. So if I have no love for someone, does that automatically mean I hate them? Highly unlikely. Perhaps you'd like to elaborate on this?It's on it's own.
Very good.
Hehe. I don't quite get this part. Are you agreeing with me here?Difference when it comes to love is, the ego is dropped.
very good.
Same here. Agreeing with me?Love with ego is a totally different ball game. So we won't go there.
It's called Romance perhaps?
Not sure what to call it but I believe that is what people generally conceptualize as love. Perhaps you could elaborate here as well.Adding on to that, there is no such thing as "feeling as a whole with someone else" because of love.
It is more like it gives you a sense of completeness within.
Having a sense of completeness within can be achieved on one's own, right? One has to feel on a whole first in order to experience something as great as love. Perhaps you could elaborate here.You're on a whole in the first place. You weren't half before the "love of your life" came along.
Perhaps LOVE is always within us? and that other individual unlocks this in us and allows us to express it?
Agreed that love could have always been in us from the start. But how could a particular individual come and unlock the love you might have within yourself when you don't know for sure the state you're in with that person? That is, whether you're really in love with that person or are you being blinded by physical attractiveness coupled with sexual attractiveness? Please elaborate here as well.So when people have this concept and their "love" breaks down, they don't feel on a whole anymore. Some are distressed, some are depressed and completely go nuts, yes, literally.
All of these things play a part. But when you love without EGO then perhaps not?
Agreed on this. That is what I'm trying to find out. What do you think?One has to learn to love oneself first before one can learn to love someone else.
True. But also others can teaches something that we can never learn on our own. Others can guide us on to something that we can't seem to grasp on our own. LOVE makes us grow, not in each others shadow, but like sun flowers towards the sun?
Agreed that others can teach us something we can never learn on our own. However that depends on how well they have grapsed the subject in the first place. If someone has a bad experience in love before you and you happen to have one too, that person may "teach you the realities of love and how it sucks big time" and you having a lack of understanding on that issue may choose to listen to their perspective instead since they're supposedly "more experienced in love". So, in that angle, they may teach you the incorrect things here. It takes alot of patience and sense to listen to someone who talks sensible things about love especially after you having been through a bad episode in love. Agreed? Please shed some insight here.Also, no such thing as "he/she completes me".
Perhaps the he/she, show us that we are already complete by ourself?
How will they show us that we're complete when they may hardly know us from the start? They may feel that they've known you for ages but they may have just known what you've wanted to show and/or what they've wanted to see. This is in accordance with the concept of people changing themselves to "match" the other party especially to gain more trust. Even if what you say is true, under what assumption will they show us that we're complete? Please elaborate.Most of us, sadly, have this misconception of love due to media influence. Agreed, most of us will deny this but it does have a strong influence on us, unconsciously.
I think Romantic Love is complicated by Sexual Desire.
Totally agree with you here.Then there is all that mambo jambo about "if you really love someone, you must let them go",
Letting go is not easy. But when you ready to let go, you feel a certain liberation and after letting go you perhaps understand little more what it means to LOVE.
Which comes back to the logical question, WHY let someone you really love go? If you really love that person and vice versa, wouldn't you want to keep one another at all odds and not let them go because of any kind of obstacle? I believe this is only applicable if it's one-sided and the person has been in a daze all this while. And why is this concept only applicable to love amongst couples/lovers and not for everyone else? Please elaborate here.So how does the concept of letting the other party go define true love?
Because LOVE seeketh not itself to please?
Then thou shall explainth what love seeketh.Wait, true love? You mean there is false love too?
Yes, just like you have TRUTH and LIES?
Agreed. Truth is the opposite of falsehood. But we haven't determined what the opposite of love is. So how can there be a false love? Perhaps this false love is the "love of ego"? The love that we think it is but it's actually making us go bonkers? Please elaborate here.So the whole basis of your faith in love is a game of chance?
Perhaps it is more to do with the process of trying to understand LOVE?
So we're supposed to try to understand love by having multiple lovers, setting them free and liberating ourselves and wait for one or more to come back to understand it? What do we learn from that? Please elaborate on this.Also you can't be extremely happy and extremely sad at the same time. I believe this doesn't make sense. If we're able to reach that stage, perhaps that's why some of become insane.
Perhaps you need to go "insane" a little before you understand what "sanity" is? Perhaps you need to descend to hell before you appreciate what paradise is? And perhaps LOVE can shows us both HEAVEN and HELL within us?
Interesting point here. Agree with you that it does take a little insanity to brush us up and awaken us. However when this insanity crosses the line, then you're going to plunge deeper. Question is, how to safeguard ourselves from not plunging that deep into insanity? Please give insight here.People have been asking about love time and time again. No one has a solid answer.
Yes, sayeeth, that is the case. No one understands LOVE! -)
Maybe it's time we slowly unravelled this mystery within ourself.Good poems that you're quoted! Salam!
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Salam openurmind,
Thank you too for your insightful comments. You seem to have a deep understanding of what love is in the universal concept. Knowing and Intelligence indeed. Looking forward to more indepth comments.
You say love is conditioned but you never mentioned what is it conditioned on. Is love conditioned to your being or not being satisfied with the object you Love?
Let me tell how conditioned states work. You set rules, imaginations, expectations, and your mind stores them as images for future use. When you meet someone or something and you begin to feel this conditioned love, your mind is in reality telling you that the subject fits the description and your expectations of becoming satisfied. Should the subject shows signs that are not in line with the images you have in your mind, you begin to feel frustrated and slowly pull out as your mind rejects the subject. This conditioned love you are talking about is not love at all, you could call it personal satisfaction or liking.
I call love unconditioned because love is the harmony between everything around us, it holds the whole universe together and we are getting glimpses of it is when we live in harmony with an object for sometime.Interesting point here. When I mentioned love being conditioned, I actually said these words "We grow to appreciate something or someone and after much understanding, we will eventually come to love that object or thing. " So you're actually saying that conditioned love is not caused by daily happenings that cause us to condition (mould) our love for someone or something but based on a set of actual conditions, rules, expectations, goals etc? Looks like we have taken the same word conditioned and explained in different terms however please explain more on your concept of love being the harmony surrounding us. Interesting. Please elaborate on this.
This harmony is always there, it is not a feeling, it is a state that is always there no matter what you feel. It is the universal love, the knowing without expectations. The feelings we call love are nothing but chemicals created by our personal experiences, understanding and our selfish ego. Love is inside everyone as a state, whether they feel it or not. Some people feel it when they feel the harmony with someone, others do not feel it when they are so blinded by their ego and material life. When you feel love, you are feeling the true state of who we are behind the opposites
.So my concept of eliminating ego to experience real love is actually is line with your universal love concept. I'm interested to know what made you deduce that love is actually a state of mind (or being?). So, out of curiosity, do you feel the harmony within yourself or with someone? Please elaborate on this too.
A quality of a thing is always there whether you feel it or not. The absolute behind our existence is the source of love that forces the harmony without failing. This absolute could not be changed by whatever you feel or understand. It is untouchable.
Again, how did you come to deduce that this is absolute? Please elaborate.
Love has an opposite, born to blind us from its absolute existence. I like to thing of love as the absolute knowing that is aware of the absolute truth, while the opposite of love, is the ignorance, the blind eye that is not allowing us seeing the truth.
How does one come about to know the absolute truth through love? Do you mean to say if you can eliminate all bits of ego and come in harmony with the universal love, you'll be able to achieve knowing absolute truth? Correct me if I'm wrong but is this something like reaching nirvana though enlightenment? If so, how then does one come into existance with the universal love around him? Start eliminating the ego first, yes. But what next? Interesting concept. Ignorance, in your concept, is an obstacle to reaching truth. Ignorance is also caused by being misinformed or being unaware or having disregard for something or anything. How does this ignorance constitute being the opposite of love? Do elaborate here.
We fear what we do not know, and we are born not knowing that we are part of the universal harmony, it is part of the reason why we are here. The whole universe is made of only two things. Knowledge and intelligence, everything you see around you is made of knowledge put together with intelligence. We are born with no knowledge yet have been given the intelligence to acquire the universal knowledge. Living without knowledge, gave birth to the opposite of love (The knowing) FEAR (the lack of knowledge). We were born in fear in a state of love that we couldn't feel. Love and fear became the two forces behind the duality we live. Duality is simply explained as ?life?. Life is based on Love and fear, light and dark, hot and cold, negative and positive. Any choice we make is based on this duality, either love or fear. Any feeling we have is based on either light emotions like joy and contentment (product of love) or the shadow emotions (product of fear) like hate and resentment. Everything we do or feel depends on our understanding of who we are vs. the universe.
Well put forth. Interesting. Perhaps we could go into detail on this another time. I'm always up for learning through various perspectives.
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Taken from here
22/06/02
What is love? Well, I have pondered over this question a little and I came up with my own personal definition (not today, I've had this theory for some time). It consists of three criteria both partners should fulfill, although you may get away with having two. Listed in order of importance(1) You must connect spiritually (this means you should most likely share the same core beliefs, which may include both sharing a belief in God or similar morals for example)
(2) You must connect mentally (this means having personalities/minds that connect, which may include level of intelligence, sense of humour etc.)
(3) You must connect physically (this simply means you should be attracted to each other)
It seems simple enough. All I did was realise that humans consist of three areas which need satisfied, spiritual, mental and physical, thus built my theory around those aspects. Another, more succinct, definition of love I have read which I liked is "to view an imperfect person perfectly".
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Salaam Jaxal,
Please give up that thinking man!!!!
There are partners for all people.
It can take time to find someone really good only, that's all.
You are very young, so you have plenty of time my friend!
Please don't destroy it with your despair of what Love is or not.
It's not dog crap as you mention shock
Take your time man or let someone else guide you D
Peace Sis Maria
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Salam openurmind,
Thank you too for your insightful comments. You seem to have a deep understanding of what love is in the universal concept. Knowing and Intelligence indeed. Looking forward to more in-depth comments.
Peace Sayeeth,
I tried to be as clear as possible in explaining what I wanted to say. I believe I was clear, yet the concept behind which this idea stemmed from is not easy to explain when we are talking only about one subject like Love. I will try to give more details.
Interesting point here. When I mentioned love being conditioned, I actually said these words "We grow to appreciate something or someone and after much understanding, we will eventually come to love that object or thing. " So you're actually saying that conditioned love is not caused by daily happenings that cause us to condition (mould) our love for someone or something but based on a set of actual conditions, rules, expectations, goals etc? Looks like we have taken the same word conditioned and explained in different terms however please explain more on your concept of love being the harmony surrounding us. Interesting. Please elaborate on this.
No, not really, what I said is This conditioned love you are talking about is not love at all, you could call it personal satisfaction or liking. I am not saying that there is conditioned love, there is only personal satisfaction and people call it love, while love has nothing to do with it. It is a misuse of the word. So, what I was talking about is not a conditioned love, there is no such a thing.
The whole universe is powered by a mighty power, this power is the force that is keeping things the way they are. It shows in the harmony, perfection and beauty in the design that without doubt these are the by-product of love. No other force could create so much perfection and harmony, unless it is something we never heard of. Now, what happen to people when they do not see this harmony is that they become too involved in trying hard, while the simple truth is, we do not have to do anything to feel this force. It is when we get too involved, things begins to become more complicated. The mind tends to overtake our lives believing that it knows better. The limited the knowledge we have, the more we indulge ourselves in the material world thinking that we could defy the laws of nature and achieve gains that otherwise not achievable.So my concept of eliminating ego to experience real love is actually is line with your universal love concept. I'm interested to know what made you deduce that love is actually a state of mind (or being?). So, out of curiosity, do you feel the harmony within yourself or with someone? Please elaborate on this too.
You are saying that love is a feeling and my problem here is I do not know what the word feeling could tell about love or any other feeling I feel. I understand that humans are capable of feeling all sorts of things, but how could they define what they feel by calling it a feeling? You could feel hungry for example, do you call hunger a feeling? Or when the body needs food it produces a sensation to signal the need for food. The sensation is the feeling you feel, but hunger is not a feeling, it is your state when you have an empty stomach. You might even not feel hungry if you are under a certain drug, that wouldn't change the fact that you are hungry. An emotion always represents a state, and your state depends on who you are and what you understand. Different people react differently to the same situation and the reason is everyone feels different simply because they at different states. You should not say that peace is a feeling because you feel at peace inside you. Peace itself has a different meaning, not only and simply a feeling. People feel at peace when they are content with what they have or when they are happy with what they have achieved, when they are above any challenge, etc. This is in fact a state of mind and a choice, sure you could feel it, but it is not just a feeling. A person looks at a painting and says ?I feel so peaceful looking at this painting? another person could feel nothing by looking at it. The first person has in fact felt what is inside him, while the other could not relate the paining to his state of being. So, a feeling is something personal that represents your state of being. Love is inside everyone of us, it is a state that you could feel it any time if you allow it to surface. When people have a problem in their life and they join a treatment group, they are shown how to open up to life and allow love to surface. They change the way they look at life to find an abundance of love waiting right inside them.
I practice what I am saying all the time. That is why I write in forums, to constantly remind myself and become what I believe in.
Again, how did you come to deduce that this is absolute? Please elaborate.
I believe that there could only be an absolute oneness behind all existence. No separation but the one we feel in this life. And the reason we feel so separated is our lack of knowledge that we are not separated. The moment we have been denied this knowledge, is the moment fear and evil were created.
How does one come about to know the absolute truth through love? Do you mean to say if you can eliminate all bits of ego and come in harmony with the universal love, you'll be able to achieve knowing absolute truth?
Not exactly, I meant to say that the mind and the ego are taking you through a journey which is far from the truth. And the only way you could find your way back is not by rejecting the process, but by accepting it and use your intelligence to acquire the knowledge you lack. It is only through understanding, opening up to realisation, and accepting the life facts. We came from the absolute to live in duality, so the only way back is not in rejecting this duality (The mind and the ego) but by facing it, receive its message, understand it and back right through it to the absolute. This is easy said than done, but at least it is a logical thought that could be understood, and if understood then could be achieved.
Correct me if I'm wrong but is this something like reaching nirvana though enlightenment? If so, how then does one come into existence with the universal love around him? Start eliminating the ego first, yes. But what next? Interesting concept. Ignorance, in your concept, is an obstacle to reaching truth. Ignorance is also caused by being misinformed or being unaware or having disregard for something or anything. How does this ignorance constitute being the opposite of love? Do elaborate here.
I have no idea if it is something like reaching nirvana though enlightenment, it is just my logical way of trying to understand. You could come into existence with the universal love around you by realising it, no one could tell you how to realise a thing, you just do when you open up for understanding and asking the right questions then BAM.Fear was born because of our lack of knowledge, with knowledge, there is no fear, there is only love, that why I say fear is the opposite of love. If you could not see, there is fear, if you see, then you know, and if you know the truth there is only love. There could only be love and absolute truth behind this perfection.
Take care,
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Salaam Br Sarat,
Oh don't be a KFC fan as Br Jaxal already are shock
Peace Sis Maria
P.s And u guys seems to have problems with women lol
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What is Love?
Is it as some say conditioned or is it unconditioned?
Is love a feeling or state of being?
Is love absolute like a quality that can only be?
Does love have an opposite?
What is the opposite of Love?
What does religion say about Love?I ask this question everyday.....hopefully on here it may be answered.....or maybe we just have to find out for ourselves.... ?
http//www.free-minds.org/forum/viewtopic.php?t=4036&start=100
Perhaps above thread may be of use too...?
Regards,
Thanx.....pls don't misunderstand me though guys....I mean I do think about love everday but usually because it it comes up everyday....I don't spend ALL day dwelling on it however.......just don't want anyone to think that I'm so kind of hopeless teenage romantic.
Peace... wink -
.....just don't want anyone to think that I'm so kind of hopeless teenage romantic. Peace... wink
Don't worry we will not tell anyone wink
Regards,
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Love is helping the poor on the street to a meal and perhaps a bed for the night.
Love is caring for those around you, and let them know that you do
Love is a night in dialoque with someone that you respect
Love is taking the punishment of another to protect them
Love is cuppa in the morning while looking at the sun rise
Love is a great homemade dinner
Love is inviting people to that dinner
Love is spending the weekend fixing you'r mate or woman's car
Love is giving, without the expectation of a return of favour's
Love is kissing you'r woman right after she gave you a BJ
Love is the children who are happy to see you because you are alway's fresh up for playing games or some other fun activity
Love is everything that you want it to be, if you're honest about it -
SaLaM Mel
Love is helping the poor on the street to a meal and perhaps a bed for the night.
Love is caring for those around you, and let them know that you do
Love is a night in dialoque with someone that you respect
Love is taking the punishment of another to protect them
Love is cuppa in the morning while looking at the sun rise
Love is a great homemade dinner
Love is inviting people to that dinner
Love is spending the weekend fixing you'r mate or woman's car
Love is giving, without the expectation of a return of favour's
Love is kissing you'r woman right after she gave you a BJ
Love is the children who are happy to see you because you are alway's fresh up for playing games or some other fun activity
Love is everything that you want it to be, if you're honest about itOh God. The things i can say here loooooooooool rotfl
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Love is helping the poor on the street to a meal and perhaps a bed for the night.
Love is caring for those around you, and let them know that you do
Love is a night in dialoque with someone that you respect
Love is taking the punishment of another to protect them
Love is cuppa in the morning while looking at the sun rise
Love is a great homemade dinner
Love is inviting people to that dinner
Love is spending the weekend fixing you'r mate or woman's car
Love is giving, without the expectation of a return of favour's
Love is kissing you'r woman right after she gave you a BJ
Love is the children who are happy to see you because you are alway's fresh up for playing games or some other fun activity
Love is everything that you want it to be, if you're honest about itLLLLLLLLLLLLLLMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMAAAAAAAAAAAAOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOO! rotfl
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Salam openurmind. Thank you for your comments.
No, not really, what I said is This conditioned love you are talking about is not love at all, you could call it personal satisfaction or liking. I am not saying that there is conditioned love, there is only personal satisfaction and people call it love, while love has nothing to do with it. It is a misuse of the word. So, what I was talking about is not a conditioned love, there is no such a thing
I'm slowly starting to see where you're coming from here. Perhaps, in time to come, I will see what you're seeing.
The whole universe is powered by a mighty power, this power is the force that is keeping things the way they are. It shows in the harmony, perfection and beauty in the design that without doubt these are the by-product of love. No other force could create so much perfection and harmony, unless it is something we never heard of. Now, what happen to people when they do not see this harmony is that they become too involved in trying hard, while the simple truth is, we do not have to do anything to feel this force. It is when we get too involved, things begins to become more complicated. The mind tends to overtake our lives believing that it knows better. The limited the knowledge we have, the more we indulge ourselves in the material world thinking that we could defy the laws of nature and achieve gains that otherwise not achievable.
Agreed on the us not having to do anything part. It us humans who make life complicated when it was never designed to be in the first place. Okay, that I perfectly understand.
You are saying that love is a feeling and my problem here is I do not know what the word feeling could tell about love or any other feeling I feel. I understand that humans are capable of feeling all sorts of things, but how could they define what they feel by calling it a feeling? You could feel hungry for example, do you call hunger a feeling? Or when the body needs food it produces a sensation to signal the need for food. The sensation is the feeling you feel, but hunger is not a feeling, it is your state when you have an empty stomach. You might even not feel hungry if you are under a certain drug, that wouldn't change the fact that you are hungry. An emotion always represents a state, and your state depends on who you are and what you understand. Different people react differently to the same situation and the reason is everyone feels different simply because they at different states. You should not say that peace is a feeling because you feel at peace inside you. Peace itself has a different meaning, not only and simply a feeling. People feel at peace when they are content with what they have or when they are happy with what they have achieved, when they are above any challenge, etc. This is in fact a state of mind and a choice, sure you could feel it, but it is not just a feeling. A person looks at a painting and says ?I feel so peaceful looking at this painting? another person could feel nothing by looking at it. The first person has in fact felt what is inside him, while the other could not relate the paining to his state of being. So, a feeling is something personal that represents your state of being. Love is inside everyone of us, it is a state that you could feel it any time if you allow it to surface. When people have a problem in their life and they join a treatment group, they are shown how to open up to life and allow love to surface. They change the way they look at life to find an abundance of love waiting right inside them.
Interesting perspective. I will need to digest all this information in and hopefully see it in this manner.
I practice what I am saying all the time. That is why I write in forums, to constantly remind myself and become what I believe in.
Nothing is better than reminding yourself. It helps to keep the sanity levels in check. Good on you for practicing what you preach.
I believe that there could only be an absolute oneness behind all existence. No separation but the one we feel in this life. And the reason we feel so separated is our lack of knowledge that we are not separated. The moment we have been denied this knowledge, is the moment fear and evil were created.
This is very subjective and must be further studied on. Though the logic behind it does apply. We'll dwell into this another time.
Not exactly, I meant to say that the mind and the ego are taking you through a journey which is far from the truth. And the only way you could find your way back is not by rejecting the process, but by accepting it and use your intelligence to acquire the knowledge you lack. It is only through understanding, opening up to realisation, and accepting the life facts. We came from the absolute to live in duality, so the only way back is not in rejecting this duality (The mind and the ego) but by facing it, receive its message, understand it and back right through it to the absolute. This is easy said than done, but at least it is a logical thought that could be understood, and if understood then could be achieved.
Hmmm ... how does one accept both and mind and ego and then use intelligence to acquire knowledge? Wouldn't the ego intervene in this process? Ego usually blocks proper understanding and realization and causes ignorance and other problems. So the natural thing to do will be to set it aside. How does one come to understand if ego is gladly accepted? Where does one draw the one if one does so?
have no idea if it is something like reaching nirvana though enlightenment, it is just my logical way of trying to understand. You could come into existence with the universal love around you by realising it, no one could tell you how to realise a thing, you just do when you open up for understanding and asking the right questions then BAM.
Application of logic into everything is always welcome, God willing.
Fear was born because of our lack of knowledge, with knowledge, there is no fear, there is only love, that why I say fear is the opposite of love. If you could not see, there is fear, if you see, then you know, and if you know the truth there is only love. There could only be love and absolute truth behind this perfection.
Beautifully said here but one must not forget that if one able to isolate fear and he becomes totally in line with the universal love, one may forget himself. Am I right here? Or will the laws of universe love automatically prevent that? Awaiting your indepth comments. Peace.
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I'm not entirely sure I know exactly what love is.
But I want it.
I wanna love with all my heart and all my being.
Even know I'm aware I am not yet capable of loving her the way she deserves to be loved.
I await patiently for her.
Her, the companion that my Lord will create exclusively for me. -
Love is an instinct.
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I'm not entirely sure I know exactly what love is.
But I want it.
I wanna love with all my heart and all my beiing
Even know I'm aware I am not yet capable of loving her the way she deserves to be loved.
I await patiently for her.BE careful, the pain you could feel is proportional to the love you give.
Only God gives back love for love indeed
