Someone here started a thread on "Emotional Feelings For Others." Let me just invite him and everyone here for us all to work together as to come to concurrence on what is love. From my own thinking, love is an emotion by which a human feels the need to be united with another human. An example of love: mom loves her baby, and baby loves his mom.
Love to me is both an emotion and a choice. Love is that warm and fuzzy feeling that you get for people along with the knowledge that your life just wouldn't be the same without them in it. Love is also a commitment to people in your life...it's knowing that through both good and bad times you are going to choose to still love these people and not walk away from them. Love is giving even when you just feel like getting and it's going the extra mile when you just want to sit down and not go one more step. Love is the joy you feel in your heart when your loved ones smile at you or hug you. Love is feeling a oneness with people that lasts through all times. And love is the most beautiful gift God created for us. Love can bring joy as well as sorrow but love is priceless just the same.
True, genuine, love is selfless. It cares about the other person. Not about the self. A man comes into a convenience store. It is late, the place will be closing soon. It is bitterly cold outside. He needs to get gas to get his family home. But, he has no money. All he has, is a broken blender to sell. You tell him to keep the blender and pay for a tank of gas and all he can do is say thank you. You know you'll never get that money back. There's nothing he can do for you in return for that kindness and yet you give it. That's love. Love doesn't need to know someone or be able to get anything in return for help. Love is simply that...it's love.
There are many forms of love. Love your Children or other Family. Love your Pets. Love your Best Friend. These are a totally different form of emotion than..say to Love your Spouse as this entails physical love too.
I differ with many of these definitions. I'll speak of love for one's life partner, not love for a mother or a pet or other thing. To me that love is not simply an emotion. To love someone, they become enmeshed with you; a part of your heart, mind,,soul and spirit. You can find enmeshment described as an unhealthy thing. I don't know. All I do know is that when I've loved someone who then dies, they leave behind a hole in me that lasts and lasts.
I like to start with basics, in this case the pleasure/pain principal. All organisms are attracted to pleasure and repelled by pain, therefore love is emotional pleasure. The poetic types here can fill in why.
When I saw the title of the thread I thought it was going to be a discussion of the Shriner's ad for the Shriner's hospital.
I would say the loss of love is painful but not the love itself when you had it. I guess that would imply returned love in some cases. When it's gone it's painful.
I'm saying if a loved one dies, you still can love them, or at least their memory. There's no loss of love and that love has become painful. I doubt we'll come to agreement. We're using different definitions and that's fine.