Thread: What is Love?

What is Love

Love many things, for therein lies the true strength, and whosoever loves much performs much, and can accomplish much, and what is done in love is done well. -Vincent van Gogh

The greatest degree of inner tranquility comes from the development of love and compassion. The more we care for the happiness of others, the greater is our own sense of well-being. -Tenzin Gyatso, 14th Dalai Lamat

Power without love is reckless and abusive, and love without power is sentimental and anemic. - Martin Luther King, Jr.

Life is meaningless only if we allow it to be. Each of us has the power to give life meaning, to make our time and our bodies and our words into instruments of love and hope. - Tom Head

Your task is not to seek love, but merely to seek & find all the barriers within yourself that you have built against it.- Rumi

Keep feeling the need for being first. But I want you to be the first in love. I want you to be the first in moral excellence. I want you to be the first in generosity.- Martin Luther King, Jr.

We have before us the glorious opportunity to inject a new dimension of love into the veins of our civilization,- Martin Luther King, Jr.

We look forward to the time when the Power of Love will replace the Love of Power. Then will our world know the blessings of peace.- William E. Gladstone

Love involves a peculiar unfathomable combination of understanding and misunderstanding.- Diane Arbus

Lord, make me an instrument of your peace; where there is hatred, let me sow love; where there is injury, pardon; where there is doubt, faith; where there is despair, hope; where there is darkness, light; and where there is sadness, joy- Francis of Assisi

The real enemy can always be met and conquered, or won over. Real antagonism is based on love, a love which has not recognized itself.- Henry Miller

Keep love in your heart. A life without it is like a sunless garden when the flowers are dead. The consciousness of loving and being loved brings a warmth and richness to life that nothing else can bring.- Oscar Wilde

The one thing we can never get enough of is love. And the one thing we can never give enough of is love.- Henry Miller

Love is the purest gift of generosity. –Andrew L. Schaeffer

Love is yet another word that people have been throwing around like trash. It seems like people have forgotten what love really means. I would hate to say this but I blame hollywood and evolution (evolution in a sense that our minds learn new things everyday thus evolving the way of thought) Although my words aren’t enough to explain the actual emotion, I would like to give it a try.
See love is not “ Liking someone for the way that person looks, for who that person is, for where that person came from, for how that person makes you feel, for what that person has done”. Love has no reason. “I don’t love you for the way you look or act around me, I love you because I do without explanation, not because my heart tells me I do, but because the way I feel for you has no explanation.” It is looking someone in the eyes and telling them you love them. Love in a sense that you care about that person. Love isn’t about being with someone or being married. Love is all about caring for people. Caring just because you understand, Understand because you know that no matter what happens you got a person’s back. Love is true, it doesn’t matter who it goes to.



Love is selfless! Putting your differences away and being true. True as love! Love is putting someone you don’t know in front of you, love is saying sorry to someone you’ve offended, love is putting your ego away and being a nice person also accepting your defeat/loss. The best definition of love is Jesus Christ, I myself am not a religious person but the story of Jesus Christ is the best lesson you could possibly learn. He put everyone in front and sacrificed his self for them. Jesus christ died for everyone, not because he was a fool or because whatever other reason you can think of. A person who would lay down his life for his friends, who would sacrifice his self for someone who hates you . Jesus Christ died for you and me while people hated him. That is true love. If we could learn to put every single difference away and live together not in peace but in LOVE then this world would be a way different place.

More realistic symbols of Jesus Christ’s sacrifice would be “A soldier who captures an enemy and lets him free, not fearing that the person he set free would come back with more people but because of love. That person you just let free is exactly like you and me. He/she is a human being who also endures love and sympathy, although war is a hectic place to be. Love exists in all of us. You set that person go because you thought of that man/woman not being able to go home to the family they left. Most of the time people don’t want to go to war, they’re forced. They have to leave everything they have behind to fight someone else’s battle. People die every day because of this lack of love. Putting your life on the line for an enemy, is the greatest love that happens in war.



Firefighters are love, They go around saving lives. Lives of people to whom they have most likely never met before. Firefighters risk their own lives just so they can save people. That is love. People who put theirselves in danger to help other people are love.



A police officer knows what real love is. Defending those who can’t defend theirselves. Risking their lives to protect and serve for the people. That is love. Love is something that goes on and on. It’s the only thing that lasts even after you die. One thing you can bring with you to the afterlife is Love.

Men Like Wesley Autrey. A 50-year-old construction worker and navy veteran. He was waiting for the downtown local, taking his two daughters home. Nearby, Cameron Hollopeter, 20-years-old collapsed. Mr.Autrey and two women rushed to help Cameron. Cameron almost managing to get up, but then stumbled to the platform edge and fell to the tracks, right in between two rails. The headlights of the train appeared and that’s when Mr.Autrey made his split decision. He jumped, and layed directly on top of Mr.Hollopeter so he could press him down in a space barely a foot deep. The train’s break’s screeched and couldn’t stop in time. A bunch of cars rolled overhead before the train stopped, cars barely passing inches from his head. Later on they were taken to St.Luke’s-Roosevelt hospital center. Mr. Hollopter suffered from a seizure.


Mr.Autrey refused medical help, because, he said nothing was wrong. He visited Mr.Hollopeter in the hospital before heading to his night shift.
Mr.Autrey said “I don’t feel like I did something spectacular; I just saw someone who needed help. I did what I felt was right” (story taken fromhttp://www.nytimes.com/2007/01/03/nyregion/03life.html?_r=1 But rephrased)

That is love! That is putting yourself on the line for someone you don’t even know. True, honest love.
Love doesn’t only need to shared to your significant other. It’s something that should be shared to enemies, strangers,friends,and family. Love doesn’t keep track of what people have done to hurt you or what you have done to offend people, Love is forgiving.

Help make the world a better place. Start loving everyone and everything that surrounds us. Keep the world honest and true.

-Andrew L. Schaeffer







German Soldier Shaking hands with a Polish/Jewish Child.


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You started this with the statement, "Love is yet another word that people have been throwing around like trash" and ended with "Start loving everything and everyone that surrounds us."
If love is about caring, and putting someone else's needs and well being above your own, then how can we manage to care for everyone? While the word love is used so recklessly that it's earned such a vague meaning to most people, one word is used sparingly and often misunderstood. That word is RESPECT. Jesus did love all, and died for all, but he also knew all. Love is not finding someone attractive, or to like being around them because they're fun, it is selflessly supporting them. It is caring about them so much that you would selflessly, unconditionally, put every single need of theirs above your own, be it something as trivial as their time, or something as major as their life. Respect on the other hand, is not always what you feel for your college professor or boss, it is giving everything that it owed to a person. Respect is what Jefferson called unalienable rights, God-given rights. Firefighters and police may have love, but above all it is respect that drives people to defend others well being. Respect is that thing inside pushing you to care for the well being of others, because everyone deserves the right to live, and find happiness.
Speaking in Christian terms, Jesus loved us because he gave everything for sinners. The moral of the story is not so much that he saved and loved everyone, more importantly he gave a gift of life, which no one deserved- but was given anyway. That is true selflessness that breaks the barriers defining love and respect. It would be considered respect if Jesus had given something owed to us.
There is a fine line between love and respect, that people are constantly crossing these days. The man that was saved from the train was probably spared out of respect. The other man probably knew nothing about him, so assumed he had the right to live. Whereas is they knew eachother, for example, and, say, the saved man was a horrible crook, but the other man saved him anyway, that would have been sheer love.
It is possible to love everyone around you, but most often when people sacrifice for another's well being it is out of respect.

spam?

Love is a great feelings of life. Love is friendship set on fire. Love is the master key that opens the gates of happiness.Love is ultimate freedom. Loves makes your soul crawl out from its hiding place. Love is a unique response to something and someone that is unique.

Love is whatever you want it to be.

I think all the beautiful aspects of love are encapsulated in the words of Christ.

Love is patient, love is kind.
It does not envy.
Love is never boastful, nor conceited, nor rude;
It is not self-seeking, nor easily angered.
It keeps no record of wrongdoing.
It does not delight in evil,
But rejoices in the truth.
It always protects, trusts, hopes, and preserves.
There is nothing love cannot face;
There is no limit to its faith, hope, and endurance.
In a word, there are three things that last forever:
Faith, hope, and love;
But the greatest of them all is love.

~1 Corinthians 13:4-7

@Andrew: Dear Andrew,The picture that is Tagged: German Soldier Shaking hands with a Polish/Jewish Child. Is in fact a Polish Calvary Officer of the
18th Uhlan Regiment. These brave men fought German Tanks on horse back. Contrary to common belief most of there attacks were successful.
Regards Richard.

Originally Posted by angie

According to one philosopher...Love is not a feeling,it is a choice.

Each philosopher has his own idea of love, I guess..

My favourite philosopher, Arthur Schopenhauer, had a very interesting view on love:





"He thought we were absolutely right to build our lives around love - nothing else in life was quite as important, but the mistake he thought we made, was to imagine that happiness had anything to do with it".

@BIORD Hi BIORD, unfortunately UK users of the Inter-web cannot view your C4 video posts,the censorship cretins strike again !

I agree with Schopenhauer's view that love doesn't necessarily promise happiness. It can make you happy, but it's not guaranteed.

I wanted to share my view of love from a quote from C.S. Lewis. I had been dragged around by a girl, and after it was finally over, I said I'd live single the rest of my life because I didn't want to feel that way again. However, this started affecting all of my relationships around me, including my family and friends. This quote helped turn me around and want to take those risks with love. While not necessarily guaranteeing a life of happiness, I believe the benefits of selfless love far outweigh the selfishness of our own egos.

“To love at all is to be vulnerable. Love anything, and your heart will certainly be wrung and possibly broken. If you want to make sure of keeping it intact, you must give your heart to no one, not even to an animal. Wrap it carefully round with hobbies and little luxuries; avoid all entanglements; lock it up safe in the casket or coffin of your selfishness. But in that casket- safe, dark, motionless, airless--it will change. It will not be broken; it will become unbreakable, impenetrable, irredeemable.” - C.S. Lewis

Tripp Dakota

“To love at all is to be vulnerable. Love anything, and your heart will certainly be wrung and possibly broken. If you want to make sure of keeping it intact, you must give your heart to no one, not even to an animal. Wrap it carefully round with hobbies and little luxuries; avoid all entanglements; lock it up safe in the casket or coffin of your selfishness. But in that casket- safe, dark, motionless, airless--it will change. It will not be broken; it will become unbreakable, impenetrable, irredeemable.” - C.S. Lewis

Now that's a quote for the ages. None of this "Tis better to have loved ..." bit. I believe Tennyson was on opium when he wrote that. Many of us swear off love to the heavens after we've been hurt, understandably so. But, eventually we'll begin to die bit by bit without it. Not only romantic love, but familial, friendship, even humanity, & I think that's what Andrew was trying to get at. It's the love of humanity as a whole.