The Many Facets of Love

[Togakure]

Love. This word represents so many different things in the minds of different people. What does it mean to you? Who and what do you love? Why? Who and what do you not love? Why?

Are there any scholars out there who can discuss the forms of love defined byt the ancient Greeks--eros, philos etc.? I could research them, but I'm feeling lazy and would enjoy hearing about it from someone here. It would also help to clarify this topic regarding the wide variety of meanings for this word.

What role do you think Love plays in the evolution of humankind, if any?

[discovery1]

I would argue that love mainly served to ensure that two stayed together long enough to ensure that their offspring would grow to the point where it would stand a fighting chance on its own. Lust srves to ensure that the two have the kid in the first place.

[TheSilverKnight]

Love is...complete devotion to a person who has captured your heart in a special way. Love means you will be loyal, you will honour that person, and you will be yourself and be true to that person.

I can say that I am in love with my girlfriend of 7 months She is so dear and close to me, and we have such a special relationship. We have so many things in common and so many joys just from being around each other.

To answer the last question
Love serves to show people how relationships progress and how serious these relationships can get with devotion and loyalty.

My two pence for the evening.
Enjoy

[Togakure]

Yes indeed, there is eros, love for our mate or potential mate ... but we love our parents, we love our brothers and sisters, we love our friends and pets. Some love God. When considering the questions I've put forward here, I hope folks will include thoughts about these as well. Didn't Jesus say that we should love our enemies? How on Earth would we go about that? Why on Earth should we?

[Uesugi Kenshin]

I think love may have served to; give children time to grow, hold communities together, keep people loyal to their family so they could be helped by their parents thus improving their chance of survival.

Loving your enemy may be keeping yourself from making your enemy an abstract idea that deserves only hate and death and keeps it in perspective, they are people. This would help many groups of humans live and if one group went around killing every enemy they faced to the last man, woman and child they would probably be taken down by multiple groups that could work together, despite being enemies at one point.

[Big_John]

i always thought it was the way to trick women into sleeping with you...

[Kongamato]

The infamous L-word...

I'd like to bring up the point that whenever a cat or dog is found tortured to death, a throng of folks come out wishing for the heads of the parties responsible. This response is reflected in the sentencing of the guilty parties. However, we don't call for the heads of people who kill crows or rats. I thought about this and came to the conclusion that a love relationship between humans and pets was the reason for this, and that much of the laws and codes in human history were based on preserving the sanctity of love relationships. This group behavior could possibly be one of the reasons humans have survived.

EDIT: I also wanna add that a lot of hate in the world comes from the envy of other people's love relationships. I don't know if my examples will work well, though. When celebrities go to court, previously unopinionated people(me, quite often) want them to burn regardless of the facts. Why? Perhaps we envy the love that fans have for their celebrities. I'll try another example. A computer nerd gets picked on because of his love for computers. Why hate him because he loves computers? All I can think of now at this early hour is that envy is responsible.

[Togakure]

An interesting perspective, Kongamoto. And yes, the infamous L-word indeed. I tried a thread like this awhile back and didn't get many responses. Didn't surprise me, given the nature of the audience here. I thought I'd try it again to see if anyone was willing to take the biscuit. Why is it that so many people are uncomfortable talking seriously about this subject?

So do you think hate is the antithesis of Love? I used to think so, but now I'm thinking that Love's opposite is indifference, not hate. I really care about the people I love. I don't much care about those I don't love, etc.

[Beirut]

A big part of Love is the ability or desire to sacrifice for others.

Which is why I do the dishes. Because if I didn't love her, the dishes would go right through the ******* window along along with every Elvis Costello CD she owns.

[SwordsMaster]

A big part of Love is the ability or desire to sacrifice for others.

Which is why I do the dishes. Because if I didn't love her, the dishes would go right through the ******* window along along with every Elvis Costello CD she owns.

LOL.

My position too. Except that I do her maths assignments instead of her dishes.

[TonyJ]

Love is the anticipation of being together again, the agony of being apart: the look in her eyes when you hold each other, that tingling feeling when she touches you.

Love is happily compromising and giving a little bit of yourself each day without asking for anything in return.

Love is called Sarah, has green eyes and red hair

[Devastatin Dave]

Love is a four letter word much like slam, pork, hump, f###, or bang. But its easier to get laid saying " let's make love" than saying the the others...

[doc_bean]

Love is a four letter word much like slam, pork, hump, f###, or bang. But its easier to get laid saying " let's make love" than saying the the others...

I second that...