What is everybody's definition of love? I was reading this part of the bible today, and it really is exactly what i think about having a mature relationship. I know a lot of you guys think the bible is rubbish, but have you seen a more accurate definition of what love is? Go ahead and post opinions and quotes here.

1 Corinthians 13:4-11

Love suffers long and is kind; love does not envy; love does not parade itself, is not puffed up; 5 does not behave rudely, does not seek its own, is not provoked, thinks no evil; 6 does not rejoice in iniquity, but rejoices in the truth; 7 bears all things, believes all things, hopes all things, endures all things.

8 Love never fails. But whether there are prophecies, they will fail; whether there are tongues, they will cease; whether there is knowledge, it will vanish away. 9 For we know in part and we prophesy in part. 10 But when that which is perfect has come, then that which is in part will be done away.

That's the end, but i like the next verse a lot too:

11 When I was a child, I spoke as a child, I understood as a child, I thought as a child; but when I became a man, I put away childish things.

thanks for humoring me,

theBishop

Memory fails me, so I cannot quote Ayn Rand's statements on love. I do remember being impressed with her perspective, however.

Thanks to the great skills of cognitive dissonance, I have two, highly contradictory definitions of love; yet they somehow work perfectly.

One, it's just some neural firings. Two, it's a spiritual intertwining of souls to strive for melding into one throughout the rest of time, overcoming the changing of avatars and all that shite. Which one of my concepts is correct? I haven't the slightest clue, but I'm 200% sure it's one of those two.

Isn't it sad, the first is infinitely more logical, but the second just sounds so much nicer. Love's a bitch.

AoZ, your third statement is pretty telling ;-)

According to Ayn Rand all emotions are invalid ways of measuring reality and are merely chemical reactions in the brain evolved for instinctual/survival purposes. Our heightened intelligence (in comparison to other animals) and our social nature cause emotions to be more intense and percise, giving them more of the illusion of reality, but...

*rant ends*

Cheers,

Lost

quote:Originally posted by theBishop:

What is everybody's definition of love?

1 Corinthians 13:4-11..., believes all things,...

Here I go again, an opportunity to talk about love. As some people here know, I only post about one subject (which is all subjects).

But I noticed this in First Corinthians some years ago, "love believes all things", and it struck me as the truth, and also as something that is against what is generally believed in the world. How can love, or someone who has love, believe ALL things? It just doesn't make "logical" sense! But thats what it says!

So I worked on this a few years, and discussed it with my friend a few years, and we paraphrased it to say "All questions have more than one correct answer", or, "The only absolute truth is that there is no OTHER absolute truth". We have tried it on all questions that we could come up with, and it always works. Love is a perfect idea, without defect. Plus, "God is love".

And we also understood why the death of Jesus embodied this single idea only, and NOT all of the partial truths that religionists usually attach to Jesus.

Also, that the Bible is NOT the Word of God, but the Word is the idea about love, and that the Bible is a book written ABOUT the Word. We can use the Bible, but also get along without it, since the only indispensable thing we can have, is love.

theBishop:

AoZ, your third statement is pretty telling ;-)

Best I can do for a definition...you know, the sad part is that I still run off at the drop of a hat for love. It's almost a comedy.

And, Lost, I was actually more referring to her statements that love is selfish, rather than selfless.

I suppose this will do; it's not the best quote, but it will do.

Ayn Rand:

Love is the expression of one's values, the greatest reward you can earn for the moral qualities you have achieved in your character and person, the emotional price paid by one man for the joy he receives from the virtues of another.

Love is free, without conditions, makes freedom, and it's unlimited.

I'd probably have to describe it as an unselfish mutual care, respect, trust and understanding, with another.

Caring for your partner, not because you think it will get them to pay special attention to you (E.g. Sex, time, whatever... the initial relationship stages which are pretty much about self-gratification), but because you know and care for their personality to a phenomenal extent.

You altruistically give of yourself, and provide the best possible quality of life for them, because you feel they are worth everything you could possibly give them.

Sort of cherishing someone for what makes them, them.

But the trust and "understanding", are unbelievably important. The person has to fully open up to you, and then, even in light of all their flaws and virtues, you still put them on a pedastel and feel grateful to be in their presence. Anyways, I'd probably say the lyrics to "Just the Way You Are", sum it up for me.

1 corin 13:4 is my exact defination of love

I don't think it's a particularly useful question to ask the definition of a feeling.

What's the definition of happiness?

Not being dead?

http://www.totse.com/bbs/smile.gif (http://www.totse.com/bbs/smile.gif)

Emotions...subjectivity...*sigh*

why does it matter what the bible says about love, everyone has their own opinion. Some people drown in it while others take advantage of its addicting qualities.

It's interesting you ask about happiness Craftian. I did any essay on happiness the other day and here's what Mahatma Ghandi has to say about it:

"Happiness is when what you think, what you say, and what you do are in harmony"

I thought that was pretty good.

It's a nice quote, but it doesn't work as a definition of the emotion.

I can be happy when I'm lying, for example.

It's also more a list of the conditions necessary for happiness than a definition of the emotion itself.

[This message has been edited by Craftian (edited 04-09-2004).]

Love is a biological reaction that prevents us from killing eachother http://www.totse.com/bbs/smile.gif (http://www.totse.com/bbs/smile.gif)

Craftian: that's definitly true, but the essay was about the difference between being "happy" and being a happy person. The happiness Ghandi is describing is more longterm happiness i think.

Overrated biochemical reaction no different that consuming large quantities of chocolate.

quote:Originally posted by theBishop:

What is everybody's definition of love? I was reading this part of the bible today, and it really is exactly what i think about having a mature relationship. I know a lot of you guys think the bible is rubbish, but have you seen a more accurate definition of what love is? Go ahead and post opinions and quotes here.

1 Corinthians 13:4-11

Love suffers long and is kind; love does not envy; love does not parade itself, is not puffed up; 5 does not behave rudely, does not seek its own, is not provoked, thinks no evil; 6 does not rejoice in iniquity, but rejoices in the truth; 7 bears all things, believes all things, hopes all things, endures all things.

8 Love never fails. But whether there are prophecies, they will fail; whether there are tongues, they will cease; whether there is knowledge, it will vanish away. 9 For we know in part and we prophesy in part. 10 But when that which is perfect has come, then that which is in part will be done away.

That's the end, but i like the next verse a lot too:

11 When I was a child, I spoke as a child, I understood as a child, I thought as a child; but when I became a man, I put away childish things.

thanks for humoring me,

theBishop

Love is a kaleidoscope, beautiful, intriguing, always new, always different.

Interesting that the verses you quote from the bible were translated as 'charity' in the older versions. Charity, as commonly known, is the actions made to help others with no thought of a reward.

Collins Concise Dictionary defines charity as, amongst other things, "the giving of help, money, food etc to those in need", "a kindly attitude towards people", "love of one's fellow man". The word derives from latin words 'caritus', and 'carus' meaning dear/affection.

God is Love = Love is Divine/Almighty/Supreme - The First Principle!

Namaste http://www.totse.com/bbs/smile.gif (http://www.totse.com/bbs/smile.gif)

Neural firings! Neural firings! *bangs his spoon against his dish*

Sorry to be cynical and unromantic, but I think love is just the result of chemical inbalances and the arrangement of neurons in the brain - it's a strange thing, but many strange things exist in nature that can be explained by science. The belief that these feelings can only be experianced for a particular person out of the 6 billion candidates is total bull. Ok, so people usually only fall in love with one person, but have they met the 5,999,999,999 other people in the world? No. Also, their love for that one person usually preoccupies them and prevents them from developing feelings of love for someone else. It all makes sense from an evolutionary perspective - humans have free will, but it's the best strategy for the survival children if there are fewer children with more attention diverted to them, who are raised by their parents for a relatively long portion of their lives... the children of the humans that fall in love survive better, because desite their free will they choose to mate for life because they percieve their partner as the only suitable mate on the planet.