"Love"

[dwarven]

What is love? Haddaway jokes aside, I'm honestly curious what you think romantic love is. I think I'm in love, and for me it feels like my purpose in life is to make sure this person is safe and that she is happy. I feel such a strong connection to her that I feel like I would do almost anything for her. The feelings I have for her seem to transcend bodily desire and I would be totally happy with her even if we weren't having sex. Anyway, I'm just curious what you guys think love is or feels like.

[Laughriot]

Well, according to one classic philosopher, love is "no less than willing good to a thing." If you will goodness towards a thing, you love it.

Probably not terribly useful for your purposes, though. I'll toss in my own two cents.

Love for me is realizing that the person you are with is the person that you want to be with for the rest of your life. You may look at other women and acknowledge that they are attractive. This is normal and natural. We are hard-wired to do this. But when you realize that no matter how attractive other women are, they could never match up to what you already have... you're probably in love.

What you have described could be love. It could also be infatuation. Some relationships start out with a powerful bang (no sex pun intended) and later on, you realize that you were being blinded by the shiny newness of the situation. Deciding which one you have... well, there isn't a way to do it, other than just time.

Ask yourself how you would feel, being with just that girl for the rest of your life. And I don't just mean ask yourself the question. Use a little critical imagination, and actually put yourself in that position. What does she do that annoys you? What does she do that endears her to you? Can her vices be overlooked (or loved for their own sake) and her virtues be sustained for the rest of your life? The answer to that question will go a long way towards answering whether or not you are in love.

I feel obligated to say something silly now, since my post comes across as overly philosophical for an internet form on a World of Warcraft website, but... I got nothing.

Good luck with your girl

[Lysah]

Love is when you're willing to break any and every rule for the other person.

[Sykol]

Love is when you're willing to break any and every rule for the other person.

Totally agree. Already broke a big one for my future wife that I'd never have done before.

I think love - and not in the familial or friendship sense - is when the person you're with is like oxygen to you. You can't breathe without them, and it hurts to be apart. And while that may happen for the beginning phase of a relationship, it's when it lasts beyond the "honeymoon period" that you realize it's something special. Nothing else compares to them, and you're willing to do absolutely anything to make them happy. That's love.

[Ms Andry]

Love is being able to watch a REALLY boring television show with your lover and still enjoying it!

(It sounds gay, but YOU'RE gay okay!?)

[Pyro1990]

Love is when you care about someone to the point that you are willing to make sacrifices for the sake of that person and in the process of being with that person and striving to make them happy and help you make yourself happy.

[dwarven]

Love is being able to watch a REALLY boring television show with your lover and still enjoying it!

(It sounds gay, but YOU'RE gay okay!?)

Yea I could watch paint dry with her and still be happy ~__~

[Deleted]

[Sy]

a quote i read some time ago in snoman's blog, that kind of struck me as one of the best definitions of love - or about how i see it - that i've ever read or heard:

"Love is not self-sacrifice, but the most profound assertion of your own needs and values. It is for your own happiness that you need the person you love, and that is the greatest compliment, the greatest tribute you can pay to that person."
- Ayn Rand

he also wrote about his experience, and it fits mine own surprisingly well:

"For my previous two girlfriends, it was always self-sacrifice when I was with them. I sacrificed what truly made me happy to make them content, I sacrificed what I would rather be doing to be with them. This model of love is counter-intuitive. You should rather be with them than doing what you want. They should make you happier than anything else. Neither of my previous relationships were like that, it was never about what made me happy, but what made them happy. This is where I realized something was wrong."

beeing willing and able to make sacrifices, for the one you love, is important in a relationship.
but love itself is not self-sacrifice - it's happiness.

[hightides24]

Well, according to the psychologist John Lee, there are 6 basic love styles, shown here http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Love_styles

I personally think I lean toward the Storge type of romantic.

[A Challenger!]

What is love? Haddaway jokes aside, I'm honestly curious what you think romantic love is. I think I'm in love, and for me it feels like my purpose in life is to make sure this person is safe and that she is happy. I feel such a strong connection to her that I feel like I would do almost anything for her. The feelings I have for her seem to transcend bodily desire and I would be totally happy with her even if we weren't having sex. Anyway, I'm just curious what you guys think love is or feels like.

Many people say they experience love, but many are just confused, or submitting to simplistic urges. Real love is something that cannot be put into any shape or form. Its a feeling that transcends time and death, the true conquerors living beings. Real love, cannot even be called love. It is a feeling that needs no words, for even a mute could feel, and express it.

This feeling is only shared between two though, its not limited to a single being, that's just lust then, a drive to have something you find beautiful. The "love" I speak of, for lack of a better term, is something that comes later on. Something that will eradicate all pre-misconceptions about true feeling for another, and perhaps even change who you are as a person. Its a bond, one that will shake you to your core.

I know all that sounds WAY over-dramatic for such a simple question, but that is the answer I have come to. The one I am with, I trust as if she was an extension of my very being, and feel as if I have known her for many lifetimes.

That, to me, is the answer.

[Laughriot]

a quote i read some time ago in snoman's blog, that kind of struck me as one of the best definitions of love - or about how i see it - that i've ever read or heard:

"Love is not self-sacrifice, but the most profound assertion of your own needs and values. It is for your own happiness that you need the person you love, and that is the greatest compliment, the greatest tribute you can pay to that person."
- Ayn Rand

he also wrote about his experience, and it fits mine own surprisingly well:

"For my previous two girlfriends, it was always self-sacrifice when I was with them. I sacrificed what truly made me happy to make them content, I sacrificed what I would rather be doing to be with them. This model of love is counter-intuitive. You should rather be with them than doing what you want. They should make you happier than anything else. Neither of my previous relationships were like that, it was never about what made me happy, but what made them happy. This is where I realized something was wrong."

beeing willing and able to make sacrifices, for the one you love, is important in a relationship.
but love itself is not self-sacrifice - it's happiness.

I can't say I like that Ayn Rand quote. Seems too much like what Kant called "using a person as a means instead of as an end in themselves." Disordered desire, even within loving relationships, is still disordered desire.

Eh, what do I know?

[Collegeguy]

Love can only be found when you love yourself first, otherwise it is nothing more than satisficing for necessity.


Sadly, 50% of people that are in love have this type relationship and are like "OMG, im in love!".

[dwarven]

a quote i read some time ago in snoman's blog, that kind of struck me as one of the best definitions of love - or about how i see it - that i've ever read or heard:

"Love is not self-sacrifice, but the most profound assertion of your own needs and values. It is for your own happiness that you need the person you love, and that is the greatest compliment, the greatest tribute you can pay to that person."
- Ayn Rand

I definitely agree with that.

[shocktopuslol]

love is but a mere chemical reaction in the brain

[Sy]

I can't say I like that Ayn Rand quote. Seems too much like what Kant called "using a person as a means instead of as an end in themselves." Disordered desire, even within loving relationships, is still disordered desire.

Eh, what do I know?

the quote does not tell you how to behave in a relationship.
or at least not how i understand it. it's a definition, nothing more, nothing less. what you - or i - personally do with that definition and it's regarding feelings, is up to ourselves

i'd never take happiness in a relationship myself, without trying everything to give happiness too.

[Pyro1990]

I definitely agree with that.

Just a random thought, aren't u thy guy that tossed ur GF into a cold shower to wake her up? lol xD

[dwarven]

Just a random thought, aren't u thy guy that tossed ur GF into a cold shower to wake her up? lol xD

Yessir I was.

[Sy]

Yessir I was.

did it work? :P

[geniebsmart]

What is love?

Baby don't hurt me...