To me love is when I ask myself "could I see myself spending the rest of my life with this person?" and the answer is at least temporarily yes.
I don't need to actually be with the woman to be in love, but I do need to know her pretty well to make an assessment I feel comfortable with.
Edit: This is purely romantic love. As far as a more platonic love, familial love or love of things or concepts...well I don't really define any of those I guess. But given that today is Vanerial Disease Day, I'd assume romantic love is what we are talking about.
Romantic love is a chemical reaction, as well as something similar to a drug, as well as something we need as healthy human beings, as well as a state of consciousness, love also is a degree or intensity of likeness to someone, which can be rather arbitrary and different for everyone, though what one might call "love" may be healthier then what another one calls "love", I think love is best, as Mucka put it, an intense feeling of likeness of someone to the point where you feel as though you want to spend your life with that person (at least at that moment).
"Romantic love is a chemical reaction" . . . well then just take those mindless undirected mixture of chemicals and shakem up a bit . . . maybe you'll get hate as a "reaction" .... lol
I'm not understanding, yes the reaction, would be the emotion we feel, the chemicals would be the cause, what causes those chemicals to react is the experience outside of our brain. No, the reaction doesn't come before the chemical? Does it seem as though I alluded to it?
Love alone can give value to any service rendered in Christ’s name .. and it is therefore the supreme gift of the Spirit .. to be coveted and prayed for above all others .. faith trusts and appropriates .. hope expects .. but love expresses Christ and blesses men . . . . Jesus Christ was the supreme expression of the love of God and his divine love and compassion is the gift of the Spirit to believers who will be yielded to him .. thinking of Jesus as “love” (for God is love) substitute the name Jesus in place of “charity” and notice the force of the text .. can you say “Christ liveth in me” .. http://dadmansabode.com/forum/viewtopic.php?p=641#p641 .. come and learn
It's true, all our thoughts are, as well as our emotions. Our consciousness is a product of chemical reactions and so is love. I'm simply adding a bit of scientific literacy to my perception of it, rather than trying to see it from the point of view of believing in mythical fables.
It was a genuine question, it seems as though you are rather obsessed with your god, to the point where you feel as though you need to project it everywhere you go. Why? I did not dispute you originally, I just asked why.
"it seems as though you are rather obsessed with your god" . . . I mention God and you claim I'm obsessed ?? . . . Well .. I believe the My God "is" Love .. and therefore my definition "of" love would derive from Him . . . this is my opinion .. either dispute it or move on .. you seem to be rather "obsessed" with my mention of God .. why is that ??
I just think it is funny, that in most debate that I have seen you in, you always somehow tie the subject with your god, though your opinion is perfectly valid and not a problem.
"what evidence do you have that love is god?" . . . no .. love is not God .... God is love
as my Bible tells me so ..
.
beloved .. let us love one another .. for love is from God .. and everyone who loves is born of God and knows God .. the one who does not love does not know God .. >> for God is love << http://dadmansabode.com/forum/viewtopic.php?p=713#p713 1 John 4:8
If god IS love, then wouldn't that make love, god? What do you mean that god IS love, do you mean he possesses ultimate love, that his is omnibenevolent?
the foundation of the definition is not from mans point of view ... some men have a distorted definition of love .. I love ice cream .. no .. you "like" ice cream because of what "ice cream" does for you . . . love is not directed toward self .. it is directed toward the individual it intends to benefit . . . love is not a "feeling" .. it is an action . . . many mistake infactuation for love ... I "love" this person because when I'm with them .. "I" feel great . . . no .. you "like" that person because of how that person makes "you" feel http://www.gty.org/MediaPlayer/sermons/1864
Words mean whatever humanity makes them mean, they are simply strings of symbols and sounds that correlate, that we assign meaning to, that we have made a norm in order for us to be able to communicate. First of all, I don't think love was originally meant to mean god, have any historical evidence? Second of all, even if it did, it would be highly problematic to try to make love mean god, because of how it is used today, doing so would be counter-productive to the purpose of language.
"Love is patient, love is kind, it is not envious. Love does not brag, it is not puffed up. It is not rude, it is not self-serving, it is not easily angered or resentful. It is not glad about injustice, but rejoices in the truth. It bears all things, believes all things, hopes all things, endures all things." - 1 Corinthians 13:4-7
Love is when you suddenly feel a feelings towards to a person like you don't wanna lose that person, you feel like protecting him/her, you don't care about his/her flaws, you feel contentment when your with him/her, you care about his/her problems, you wanna make him/her happy so you do commitment.
This is probably what you felt to your family and friends.
The reason why you are motivated at school and work, that feeling when you wanna give up but then just a thought of the person you love strengthens you. That is love