What is Love? (Baby don't hurt me)

[darren23a]

Simple enough question.

What is Love? How would you personally describe it?

[Chase]

Chemicals firing off in your brain, duh.

[Jettalove]

What kind of love are you talking about?
Of course there are many types of love: family love, friendship love, romantic love...

I assume you're talking about romantic love though., which can start off as an "in love", can't think about anything or anyone else, endorphins running high type of feeling, and then CAN (but not always) evolve into unconditional, deep love in which you learn to accept and work through flaws and annoyances which will inevitably crop up. It's when you want to share everything with that person, they are the first person you want to tell about whatever happens to you, you often put their needs above their own, you are willing to sacrifice things for them. This love can only be truly given though, if it is given back to you in the same way. If it's a one way street, the love won't be as fulfilling or complete.
I think a lot of people think they are in love when they are really in "deep crush" mode. When endorphins run high, you may *think* you really love someone, but you'll soon see that you don't.

If you feel that you need someone because you love them, that's a true love.
If you feel that you love them because you need them, I'd be wary of that.

[meridannight]

Chemicals firing off in your brain, duh.

it is true that the high you get from love is chemical in nature, just like a lot about human emotions. but, those chemicals don't fire off to every person you meet and like. it is an event in which the neural processing in the brain meets and exceeds the threshold for the release of those chemicals. it also gets tied in and associated with other processing taking place in your brain. most immediately that processing is concerned with the smell, looks, sounds, and touch of your partner, and sexual desire, of course; later it's his personality that starts to take shape for you, then your expectations and matching of those expectations revolved around the concept of love and romantic partnership that play into it; in the long term the processing concerned with shared experiences also has influence.

it is the complex processing of all or parts of this information that, ultimately, trigger the release of the chemical concoction that you interpret as being in love, or love. that's the physiological reality of it.

you are not capable of achieving this chemical release from being with just anyone. you need a physical match, first and foremost; then, later on, other things to be within certain values to match the experience to love. you need a guy being with whom stimulates your brain within these values needed for producing this emergent processing that manifests as the experience of love for you, for it to work.

[princealbertofb]

A feeling sufficiently universal to have a word for it in every language.

[BlueStar]

Something you cannot describe or even define, yet something we can never live without.

[Jettalove]

As per usual, my first instinct was to over-analyze with my answer.

Now that I've gotten that out of my head, my simple answer is....love is light. Physically, metaphorically, transcendentally. Pure, bright light. The opposite of darkness, the opposite of cold. I do think there is an actual physical manifestation to it - a real energy. Photons fascinate me.

[Anocxu]

Love is a tree 150 miles tall that we keep climbing...
If you're good at it ..you 'll climb about a mile a year..
Technically..
We'll never get to the top..
but we keep climbing..

[Jettalove]

Love is a tree 150 miles tall that we keep climbing...
If you're good at it ..you 'll climb about a mile a year..
Technically..
We'll never get to the top..
but we keep climbing..

I've never heard love described as anything remotely like that...interesting perspective. What about when we die? Would we get to the top of the tree then?

Kind of fits in with my thoughts on reincarnation, actually. I think we keep coming back until we are actually able to become love, become "enlightened"- when we are able to fully actualize the God that is already within us.

I swear I'm not smoking anything tonight. LOL

[Steve]

-Not wanting to slap sense into a person you think has enough potential not to be a complete pain in the ass favors positively.

-Not wanting to strangle, maim, or drown a person you think has enough potential not to be a complete pain in the ass is a winning indicator.

-Not wanting to put an awl through your ears listening to a person you think has enough potential not to be a complete pain in the ass who doesn't yap like a mad chihuahua about inane dreck, drooling and driveling all the while bode well.

-Having more in common with a person you think has enough potential not to be a complete pain in the ass other than breathing, eating, drinking, farting, pissing, shitting and sleeping is exigent. A mutual love of cock (pussy as the case may warrant) does not count: necessities are prerequisite.

-Points for hygiene include rising above European flare for the scintillating scent of human reek tantamount to a decaying corpse. While a certain level of male musk is lovely, a shower and the application of deodorant before eyes bleed and nose hair prematurely grays is imperative. The ability to wipe one's ass sans dingleberries thus removing the necessity of Ginch Gonch funereal pyres due to underwear stripe should be considered paramount. Breath that does not remotely smell of regurgitation, especially that of onions, garlic, ear wax, piss, feces, or carrion in any form is indispensable. Incidentally, golden teeth do not equal Tristan & Isolde. Summer teeth (some are here, some are there...) equal a heaving of the stomach not conducive to love. Vivid scarlet gum disease also preclude love. Flossing flotsam goes a long way to illustrate bare minimum effort. Hair must consist of less grease than a McDonald's french fryer.
All above may be subject to exception due to fetish... (but really? Just ewww.)

-The ability to commit a length of time longer than it takes to be anonymously blown through a glory hole while chafing your turgid member by means of cheap fiber board in a highway rest stop with a person you think has enough potential not to be a complete pain in the ass is preferred.

-The ability to kiss without feeling like a camel hocked a slimy, warm loogie in the face, or being tongued with all the slop, drool, and technique of a Saint Bernard must be considered mandatory.

There are more defining essentials, but I'm tired. Possibly slightly bitchy too. This concludes this test of the Emergency Quest For Meaning In Life System.