Can every1 please tell me the answer to this-> WHAT IS LOVE?

No love is hormones. Believe in fairy tale loves is a belief.

Lust is hormones. Love has a little more commitment. If it exists.

It means I haven't scored one darn point yet in my tennis match.

Love is a dog turd in a gold-foil wrapper.

ah kicky....you have such a touch....

The feeling of love is a biological response to get us to bond. That first feeling of being in love is actually a chemical response (infatuation) that keeps us interested long enough to get into bed and have a baby. You know how you are when you are in love....you focus 100% on that person...you can't think or eat or sleep except to think about that person. This lasts about an average of 1 year before it starts to plateau. That is why the feeling of love exists. Procreation it what it's all about baby.

When that feeling fades, we have to work on love and then it develops into something deeper. Which is why so many people get divorced. They like the feeling of love, not the actual love part, and when that is gone, so is the marriage.

What is love?
I agree with Kristie, to an extent. I believe that while there is actual love as opposed to merely lust, most marriages are based on more of a yearning for love than actual love, and that people who divorce never truly loved in the first place. To use Meet Joe Black, love is when the other person "knows the worst thing about you and it doesn't matter," and they continue to honor, support, and enjoy being with you. People who cheat, people who dislike spending time with their spouse, and people who marry because of the phantom "biological clock" don't really love. They might have very strong feelings for their spouse, but it's not love.
We're seeing a very strong slide towards marrying just to 'have someone' because we've been conditioned to view solitude as a sign of worthlessness, when I believe solitude is how we can decide not only to love other people, but to figure out how we love these people, and be better for it. basically, love is when you want to cut your favorite activity short just to be with your sig. other.
There you go, my thoughts on the subject.

Ok.
I don;t believe we as humans (as opposed to divine) are actually capable of LOVE.
I think ultimately e'one does loving things for selfish reasons. Either for company or sex or money, lust or status..whatever.

I wish I could tell that to my feelings though. They are compelling and added to lust...well as we all know people have died over less.

i think nowadays, we 'know' there is no such thing as love, as has been very well explained here, but our feelings and passions betray us. If you're anything like me, you then flagellate yourself for being so weak!

But isn't it delicious...being in love and loving (more steady ie my kids) Even the agony... an exquisite tension.

-but still hugely selfish- even loving my kids at root is selfish

Re: Can every1 please tell me the answer to this-> WHAT I
I think love is both hormonal and affective attraction to another person.
Love has the quality to push us from our ego towards the other, forcing us to admit his own individuality and singularity.
But, with time, love has another (and contradictory) consequence: slowly, we return to ourselves and try to shape the other in the representation we have, we try to change him, to make him ours. And that is to deny his individuality and singularity.
Both moments are represented in western culture. The first, for instance, in the romantic identification between love and death (Leopardi, Wagner): lost of our ego in the movement towards the other. For the second moment see Plato's "Phedro".
So, love has that contradiction in itself: deliver of ourselves to another person, and return to ourselves trying to bring the other to ourselves (changing him according to our patterns).

Everyone can tell you the answer to the question, but I wonder, can anyone?

lurve
The universe as we know it is made of matter which is bound together by energy.

I believe that love is the exchange of energy that can occur between two people when, regardless of intention or even the fact that a relationship is based on physical attraction, each person willingly submits to an exchange to make them feel better. Even body heat is an exchange of energy and a very satisfying one too. This is amongst many other forms of exchange which i wont delve into.

It has often eluded me as to why love is worth it, if it can be explained as a meier scientific exchange of energy, it sounds so cold and unromantic. But I have come to realise that the only reason it seemed magical to me was because i did not understand it, i did not contemplate what it might be.

the bottom line is that love is blissful, so enjoy it and reap the benefits.

True, actual love is the absense of selfishness...I think the only time you see that is in parents with their children...a mother or father willing to give their most precious gift, life, so a child can live. Or sacrifice everything they want so a child can have the basic necessities in life. I think true, actual love does exist but as i said, it isn't a feeling as much as it's a committment.

cavfancier, did you mean that while everyone can tell you their answer, there's no answer for everyone? If that's the case, then I agree. However, if you meant there is no answer, then I have to disagree. While pessimism about love is common nowadays, they're missing the point; love is about hope: "There's love. There's hope ... for some. There's hope that you'll find something worthy ... that your life will lead you to some joy. That after everything ... you can still be surprised."
- Joss Whedon, Angel
My interpretation: While not everyone will fall in love, the ideal of love is one worth pursuing.

Love is where the other person's happiness means more to you than your own happiness.

If only one person in the relationship feels this way, that person is destined to be taken advantage of by the other person.

If both people are truly in love with each other though, this works wonderfully as each will do the utmost to make the other happy and thus ...

LOVE.

but we still gain.

Wherever there is love, we gain from feeling that emotion. Or from the benefit of the care and validation a sig other will give you.

TO love children we guarantee the continuation of our genes. And possibly care in our dotage.

To love friends, see sig others.

To love strangers a sense of goodliness.

Not that any of that is bad or wrong. Just interesting.

Especially as many people will misuse this emotion as a tool for manipulation, control, power etc. I am just hugely sceptical, these days, about our motivation to give and recieve love.

FOr example the lover who betrays you, or lies to you. it is expected that you will stop loving them. but surely, true love, goes beyond character flaws....but the balance is no longer equal and so to stop being a door mat we stop loving.

SO can we actually ever experience that kind of love where we are still harmed by s'one yet can love them? In a proactive way? Surely then we are too open to abuse?

Yes love works beautifully if both feel the same.....and don't we wish that would stay forever and life didn't poke it's intrusive face in.

You are on target with your first statement. :wink:

Ah, thanks for clearing that up. I think the reason so many philosophers have contemplated this subject is for that exact reason: it's subjectivity. Love always comes to people differently, and it's always different to everyone who has it.

Love is a state of mind,attachment,addiction,lust,desire,after many year's it becomes contentment and comfort.True unselfish love is when you hold a true innocent in your arm's such as a newborn infant.They are the only true clean soul's .And thats why we "Love" them.It's pure Innocent love.Love with out desire.

I like to believe that love has no boundaries or conditions. Anything subjective passed on as love is usually vanity in disguise.

Bingo ! bluesky hit the nail on the head. Love is uncondtional, and with out guideline's, it's hoensty and being truefull and faithfull, and above all accepting one another for the person they are. Love comes from the soul and the heart. A blind person can not see the person they love, so he/she loves with out vanity.