Is unconditional love a myth?

@maxdancona,

maxdancona wrote:

Come on.

There can be more than one university in existence. You can universal healthcare that doesn't cover Uranus. There are omnivores that don't eat rocks and all purpose cleaners that should definitely not be used to brush your teeth. You don't need to worry about being cut by sharp cheese. You can even have a hung jury when all the members are female.

That is ridiculous. It makes no sense to parse phrases to the point that they no longer have their useful meaning.

To say that it is about ‘unconditional love’ per se was just my opening objection (I still think it is because of the word 'Myth') to your answer. If I accept your interpretation then I will examine if your love for your daughter is truly unconditional.

So the question is: Is unconditional love a myth?

You have said that it is not because you love your daughter unconditionally. So now we should all look for another topic because you have answered the question. Maybe not…

The word ‘condition’ is a philosophical term for example without you having a daughter you cannot be a mother (to your daughter) it is a condition. If you had dementia that medical condition could mean that you no longer remember you have a daughter so you would no longer love her, she would be a stranger to you. So having a memory of your daughter is a condition of your love for your daughter. If your daughter changed due to perhaps some unknown brain damage into someone who hated you and tried to kill your mother and your other daughter you may revise you unconditioned love for her saying that the one condition you want is that she not try to kill the rest of the family. Do you get my drift?

You have an everyday expression which says something about your personal relationship with your daughter as do many mothers with their children but it is not a definition of ‘unconditional love’ because conditions exists and I have not began to list them, there are many…many…more.

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@Fil Albuquerque,

I'm surprised you think a definition of "love" can be precise.
In the annals of this forum there are several multi-page threads on that issue.

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@fresco,

...I am not indulging myself in such belief on the contrary, and that´s precisely why I love philosophy and think its role is important...but those who think the meaning can be driven by common sense should have the common sense of consulting a dictionary to see what unconditional itself means...that simple fresco, that simple...

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@igm,

...the very phrase "my daughter" is indicative of "conditionality".
That point is a meditational portal with respect to the whole issue, would you not agree ?

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@fresco,

...yep, common sense there !
(now I just wonder what you believe the "whole issue" is about)

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@fresco,

fresco wrote:

...the very phrase "my daughter" is indicative of "conditionality".
That point is a meditational portal with respect to the whole issue, would you not agree ?

I agree.

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@igm,

...even if he claimed to still love her after she tried to kill the family the condition would be the memory of who she once was...

...to claim that you love someone for what she already is or was necessarily requires presenting a condition which if not met breaks the relation...

...proximity with identity, that particular individual and not other or anyone, is the main condition of love, it points to either, and mostly both, genes and memes...

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@fresco,

There may be a deeper question about whether conditionality is an illusion… but I won’t go into that, except to say: this would mean ‘love’ is naturally without conditions, we just think that our ‘love’ for someone/something is love for them/it but it’s more like an experience projected due to dualistic thinking, itself i.e. dualism.. is an illusion. I am not stating this just saying there may be a deeper question and pointing in the direction of it.

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@fresco,

"My Krishnamurti references would adequately illustrate such specificity"

...while I was listening his "lets think this together" on what love is not all along I could avoid laughing since he was the one conducting what to think all along the damn palestra...and what an authoritative figure he was...

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@Fil Albuquerque,

Fil Albuquerque wrote:

...even if he claimed to still love her after she tried to kill the family the condition would be the memory of who she once was...

...to claim that you love someone for what she already is or was necessarily requires presenting a condition which if not met breaks the relation...

...proximity with identity, that particular individual and not other or anyone, is the main condition of love, it points to either, and mostly both, genes and memes...

Yes, the objects involved are impermanent and both subject and object are only as good as their word in the infinitely reducible moment they make that statement. It’s like trying to step into the same river twice… it's not possible but we think in terms of the river being permanent even though it's ever changing.

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@igm,

...fair fair, I myself believe that, but then you are abandoning a phenomenological explanation and account on the matter...the issue rather is what you believe to be doing when you say you love and since you believe in the experience of the "self" you must similarly believe on the experience of the "other" in turn...

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@Fil Albuquerque,

Fil Albuquerque wrote:

...fair fair, I myself believe that, but then you are abandoning a phenomenological explanation and account on the matter...the issue rather is what you believe to be doing when you say you love and since you believe in the experience of the "self" you must similarly believe on the experience of the "other" in turn...

Believe in... might be a bit strong for me but useful for everyday life...sure.

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@igm,

...if you use it rest assure you believe it...the philosophical questioning is not enough to peril the strong experience of the "self"...

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@Fil Albuquerque,

Fil Albuquerque wrote:

...if you use it rest assure you believe it...the philosophical questioning is not enough to peril the strong experience of the "self"...

That's what meditation is for...I'd say.

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@igm,

...if meditation was efficient enough me Fresco Cyracuz and JLNobody would n´t spent most of the time debating the world inside your mind or the mind inside the world thing as we mostly do...we would be indifferent to it.
The "ensemble", "the meta-causality" implied would render most talks useless...and yet they insist in a phenomenological account pro mind approach in anthropic terms...

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@Fil Albuquerque,

...if the "observer" effect was regarded as a holistic caused point in the system itself and not a specific quality of humans, most conversations I have with them would be settled !

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@tsarstepan,

tsarstepan wrote:

Is unconditional love a myth?

Hysterical group thinkers can achive such thing.

1 Reply

@Fil Albuquerque,

Good point... but one can do it to understand all the angles... relative truth... day to day life... and to shine light onto our own mind's ability to have gross and subtle mistakes about reality.

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@HexHammer,

...ohhh, you are back from therapy already...hi there !

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@Fil Albuquerque,

Fil Albuquerque wrote:

...agreed...but then we differently are speaking on resolution, conciliation, and not in temporal terms on unconditional love ! are n´t we ?

Sorry, but I don't see any difference. Jesus did it. "Forgive them, for they know not what they do." We often don't know what we "do" either.

Not to be temporal, for goodness sake. Or religious. He is the only example we have. Do you have another? Would you love your torturer? Where is the "order" there?

2 Replies

Is unconditional love a myth?

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