Love

[Paradox]

I know this probably belongs in the poetry thread in the Literature forum, but I'm interested in what members think about about this strange emotion. This poem I just wrote contains many philosophical questions. Perhaps you have the answers. Now I'm not a poet, and I don't write that often, so if you have any tips or suggestions, I appreciate those as well.

Love?

What is love?
Is love real?
Can it free us from our lonely selves
And save us from the common fate?
This feeling, this emotion that flows within,
Is that love?
Or is love purely physical?
The couple holding hands
The father with his son or daughter
The mother and her baby
Is that love?
Or is it simply obligation;
Biology in its most beautiful form?
Is love the reason for our creation;
When we were made from dust?
Or is love our own creation?
Were we not beasts before,
That now have souls?
Where is the line that frees us from the Laws of Nature?
That puts us on a pedestal up high as God's chosen?
Is love the cause of peace?
Or is love the face of death?
Is it not true, that those who kill in war,
Do so out of love for their own country?
And is it not true, that those who die,
Die out of love for their's?
Is love a paradox?
Is there a line that separates love and hate?
Can one exist without the other?
The love of family and friends
The hate of solitude
The love of wealth
The hate of poverty
The love of God
The hate of the unknown
But what is love?
And why is it so painful?
Why are there so many who have none?
Why are there so many who beg, who pray,
Who lay restless everynight and yet,
Never catch a glimpse of what they're searching for?
What is love?
And is it truly there?
Or is it nothing more than a figment of imagination?

[Vallegrande]

We couldn't understand love without hate, as we couldn't understand heaven without hell. Inseparable are both extremes, in that they remind us of what the other is.

[Synthesis of thought]

true love and devotion is why i still believe in a higher being. i am pretty marxist sometimes, but i have had some things happen to me that a rational man cannot deny.

[ComradeChris]

It's kind of like asking what courage is. It's a subjective emotion. Most people only know it when they experience it or see it working first hand.

[Zingu]

What is love?

Depends on what type of love, love for a friend, spouse, brother, parents. A love for a lover/spouse would just be the animalistic lust of the desire to reproduce combined with a devoted attitude to support your spouse and offspring in later times.
Love for the family (brother, sister, parents ect.) is what holds us together and supports people when growing up, sort of a tool to keep us safe, to have peopel to rely on.
Love for a friend, could just be out of a immensive power of trust, like comrades on a battlefield, someone to be on your side.

Is love real?

Yes, if you talking in terms stated above

Can it free us from our lonely selves
And save us from the common fate?

Lonely selves, yes, its a healthy social activity, common fate? what?

This feeling, this emotion that flows within,
Is that love?
Or is love purely physical?

If there were know emtional feelings, how could we "feel' love? Love is purely physical from the materialist viewpoint, love is an action within our brain, which is fired by neurons, a physical action, made of matter, therefore, as everything else, it is purely physical.

The couple holding hands
The father with his son or daughter
The mother and her baby
Is that love?
Or is it simply obligation;
Biology in its most beautiful form?

Acts of love, signs of affection all come with love, to assure that you are loved.

Is love the reason for our creation;
When we were made from dust?
Or is love our own creation?

Love is our own creation, the creation in order to make new creation, love is merely a force to ensure that a species reproduces. Love is not the reason ulitamely of all living creation, reproduction is (I'm pretty sure single cells do not feel love)

Were we not beasts before,
That now have souls?

No such thing as souls, love is just a extension of animalistic lust to ensure the security of the upbringing of our offspring.

Where is the line that frees us from the Laws of Nature?
That puts us on a pedestal up high as God's chosen?

We are never free of the laws of nature, there is no such thing as God.

Is love the cause of peace?
Or is love the face of death?
Is it not true, that those who kill in war,
Do so out of love for their own country?

Love is not always the cause of peace, maybe among personal problems, but not in international wars.
Some die for not the love of their country, but for the passion of revolution. You might love your country, but your country does not love you back. (ooo I need to add that to my sig)



And is it not true, that those who die,
Die out of love for their's?

uh, I don't know, still pretty young here.

Is love a paradox?

Uhm, from my understanding of love, no.

Is there a line that separates love and hate?

Oh yes, the desire to reproduce and the desire to crush one's enemy

Can one exist without the other?

Good question, I'm taking no, there can be no light with no dark, no black with no white ect. ect. unity in oppisites

The love of family and friends
The hate of solitude

Some people find happiness in solitude, but for other reasons maybe.

The love of wealth
The hate of poverty

Okay material 'love', is really the desire or contentment of having one's wants I guess.

The love of God

None here.

The hate of the unknown

For me, the wondering of the unknown

But what is love?
And why is it so painful?

You don't want to let go of a mate, instinct.

Why are there so many who have none?
Why are there so many who beg, who pray,
Who lay restless everynight and yet,
Never catch a glimpse of what they're searching for?

Life sucks, can't have everything

What is love?
And is it truly there?
Or is it nothing more than a figment of imagination?

Er, again it depends what type of love.....

[NovelGentry]

Love is pure selflessness, period.

It contains no form of greed or selfish interest, it is one person doing something good completely for the sake of another person or another group of people and for no sake of their own.

[Vallegrande]

That is compassion. I don't know if love equals compassion.

[Paradox]

common fate? what?

What I was trying to say was can love save us from the fear of death. We're all going to die, but can feeling love for someone ease those fears, or defeat them completely. I'm thinking that it can help to ease those fears. But then again, I guess that depends on how afraid of death an individual is. Either way, there's no escaping it.


This feeling, this emotion that flows within,
Is that love?
Or is love purely physical?

If there were know emtional feelings, how could we "feel' love?

What I was going for here was, is love just an animal instinct that we perceive as meaning something more. In other words, the drive to reproduce is made to seem as some romantic emotion in humans, whereas in animals, it's just instinct.


Life sucks, can't have everything

No arguments here. ;)


But what is love?
And why is it so painful?

You don't want to let go of a mate, instinct.


I suppose, but then why do people fall out of love? How can such strong feelings just fade away? Kind of makes me think of animals reproducing with many different mates. There are some animals that pair for life, and there are those who just come together to procreate. What is the cause for such a contrast? And could this same idea be applied to humans, as "unromantic" as it sounds?

[DaCuBaN]

"Love is a device invented by bank managers to make you want to spend all your money"

Love is indefinable; it's that "glow" in the core of your very being that makes you do the most irrational, reckless, and downright stupid things to please another, attract another and such.

Love is, quite frankly, a living nightmare.

[Vallegrande]

:lol: DaCuban answered that one right there. I know this to be true. Love changes definitely over time. You may love someone, but they may not love you back, using you to the greatest extent until you run dry, then they move on to the next sucker. Should you "love" someone to a certain extent so as not to harm yourself in the long run? People get screwed over sometimes thinking they love another. Maybe if I was 90 years old and still had my wife over the decades, then would I truly understand love.

[Discarded Wobbly Pop]

I don't know what it is about me, but I find it way easier to describe hate than love. :P

With my own personal experience, I'm hopeless. As far as love for the opposite sex, I get all puppydoggish quite often, so I'm really reluctant to claim that I've ever been in love.

The closest I can get is that, when you would die for something then you must love it. And guess if you'd love to kill something then you must hate it. :P

[Rasta Sapian]

"all you need is love, love, love is all you need, love is all you need, love is all you need, love is all you need" -Beatles

[commiecrusader]

Love is a pain in the ass. It overcomplicates things. Im not saying I don't love girlfriends and stuff, but wouldn't life be simpler if we were like rabbits?

[che's long lost daughter]

Love has no definition. Its definition will depend on the person experiencing it therefore, one must love (as in real love, not lustful or "puppyish" or merely a strong emotion love) for one to be able to define love.

[ComradeChris]

Originally posted by che's long lost [email protected] 9 2004, 03:15 PM
Love has no definition. Its definition will depend on the person experiencing it therefore, one must love (as in real love, not lustful or "puppyish" or merely a strong emotion love) for one to be able to define love.
Exactly. The idea of love is subjective to the person who's using the term.

[choekiewoekie]

What is love? Good question to think about, but almost impossible to describe.

You know, i see there is a diffrence between 'me' and the 'subject' under it.
I can talk to describe my emotions, but when i do that, i know it doesn't come close to the real thing. Words are to small. The philopher Lacan says great things about this.

You are more than a body that is able to speak etc. but when you want to talk about that, you cannot avoid that youre a pronouncing body. I hope it does make sense in english, it is difficult to translate an idea like this in another language..
So you know there is love, but you cannot really say anyting about it. You can feel it, you know it is there, you can even give a description, but REALLY tell what it is, that is impossible.



subject of pronouncation this is you talking eating etc. but you're more..
_____________________
subject of speaking this is what lies beneath, but you cannot really
come to this, cause that you have to e use words from the subject of pronouncation

[Purple]

love between two persons is just niice. nobody allowed to alter that!

[Dyst]

Love is the result of hormones in your brain, affecting your senses, and your brain wanting to have sex. <_< :lol:

[Strange]

Something I don&#39;t have :( lol.

[Cal]

Love is the release of endorphines by the brain, these chemicals in their physical state last around four years and have evolved over human history in order that a man and woman an conceive and then raise a child until it can walk, the natural endorhines then run out and the man either

1. As by human nature, and evolution continues his animalistic, instinctive drive to spread his seed in order to make sure his genes are passed down or:

2. Establishes further emotional ties and maintains the relationship.

and bio-chemically exactly the same as eating huge amounts of chocolate.

All true.

[pandora]

Real love denotes obligation to sacrifice ones self for the sake of another, with little or no expectation of return. It is the love that comes from cherishing others as much and eventually beyond ourselves, and gives this away freely with no hope of return.

I know that sounds severe, and I myself always grasp to self-cherishing, watching couples with a child is an example of this love, and some families and couples practice it, but this is the love of the true revolutionary of love, and the love of the bodhisattva.

It denotes sacrificing yourself for others, but i would say there is an important catch. You must use wisdom in sacrificing yourself only if it is beneficial in the long run to both yourself and the other person. This means using wisdom and not just giving everything away, it is a slower more patient love.

If you have ever been the recipiant of unconditional love as I have been, you will know how beneficial it can be, but if someone&#39;s love for you engenders them incapable of helping others in the same way, then it is not wise.

Lust is different, but is nice to add to love. When you would sacrifice yourself for another in a real way by opening up and listening to each other, and helping each other, then sexual love can be an incredibly freeing experience. Because you learn to really trust each other on a deeper basis.

[Kobbot 401]

Love is only a impluse given by the brain to allow us to know that what we see, feel, hear about, or are thinking about is good. It dose not nessisairally have to be something such as a woman or money. There have been cases where serial killers only killed because they loved the feel of the blood or the power they got.

You can love anything, be it alive or dead (nasty necrofiliacs), but what you love will me juded by people around you (gay haters) and that is just an aspect of life.

[Commie Rat]

when u love some one u trust them you think they can do no wrong and can talk to them about anything