Anonymous

What Is Love?

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59 Answers

Anonymous Profile
Anonymous answered

What is love?

Love. It's the theme of countless songs, poems, plays, movies; it's portrayed by everything from the amorous Aphrodite of Ancient Greek mythology to the latest Rom-Com doing the rounds of theatres and cinemas; and yet, despite being so utterly obsessed and infatuated by it, when asked simply to explain what love is, we invariably struggle.

The Science

What exactly happens to you when you meet that special someone? What's behind that racing heartbeat and fluttering stomach that can be triggered at the mere mention of your lover's name? What is the reason behind the serenity and warmth that we feel when we spend time in the arms of our other half? Science distinguishes two separate 'driving factors' of love: Sexual attraction and Attachment.

The sexual attraction part is best described as a rollercoaster of neuro-chemical activity: Testosterone, estrogen, nerve growth factor, dopamine, norepinephrine, and serotonin all play their part in triggering various parts of the brain.
Chemicals like oxytocin and vasopressin are associated with the 'attachment' part, and studies into brain activity when someone is experiencing 'Love' have identified the foci in the media insula and the anterior cingulate cortex as being responsible for creating feelings of euphoria, heightened sensibility to smell, touch and cheesy one-liners.

In terms of biology, love also plays an important role. Ask an evolutionary psychologist what he or she thinks of love and perhaps they would suggest that love is simply a psychological state that coaxes us into devoting ourselves to another person, procreating, and creating a stable environment that is suitable for the relatively long parental-dependency period that human babies require in relation to other species.
In short, love can be seen as a useful evolutionary tool that keeps us reproducing and monogamous; the monogamy part being key, in that love encourages us to set up a home environment with a single partner and makes us less likely to encounter sexually transmitted infections that could jeopardize our fertility.

All you need is Love

Now that we've got the science out of the way, we can get down to serious business. There's a reason Valentines day is worth an average $14 billion to the US economy every year (figure courtesy of the National Retail Federation 2010). We simply cannot go without it!
From the first kiss, to the perfect wedding day (or civil partnership), through to growing old together; love is what makes our lives worth living. It's the reason we rush to school just to sit behind our crush in second period French, it's the reason we'd brave below-freezing temperatures to get a partner's favourite chocolate bar from the all-night petrol station at 3am. The way love can make you feel, all the troubles and worries the world has to throw at you pale into insignificance.
Just like that Beatles song says: 'All you need is love' and actually that's quite an accurate explanation, to share that feeling with another human being, to have that connection, to be constantly thinking of someone and know that they feel exactly the same way- what else could matter more than that?

You often hear people say love is an 'inexplicable feeling', perhaps it is just that. There are things so immense and powerful, that mere words will never be able to fully reflect, just like those old clichés: The perfect sunset, a baby's smile, a particularly terrifying rollercoaster ride, you'll never be able to understand it until you experience it, until you run the risk.

Lust or Love

The other big question is how do you know it's real? How do you know he or she is the one? The answer to that one is that you'll probably never know until you jump into it head first.
Arguably, all human relationships begin with that spark, that initial attraction, and often times physical appearance has a part to play in that, but beyond the thrills, lust and romance what makes that initial attraction blossom into a lifelong love story for some people, but end in hurt and disappointment for others?

Well, perhaps that is a part of what being in a relationship is about, it's an ongoing test. As much as it can be wonderful and awe-inspiring, there are going to be low-points, choppy waters and turbulence; how someone reacts to those times when life is less peachy can often be a good indicator of whether they are in it for the long haul. Does that mean you can't find true love without running the risk of heartbreak? Unfortunatley it probably does. Does it mean you shouldn't risk going out there and looking for love for fear of getting hurt? Maybe the best way to answer that is with the following quote:

~ Love is passion, obsession, someone you can't live without. If you don't start with that, what are you going to end up with? Fall head over heels. I say find someone you can love like crazy and who'll love you the same way back. And how do you find him? Forget your head and listen to your heart. I'm not hearing any heart. Run the risk, if you get hurt, you'll come back. Because, the truth is there is no sense living your life without this. To make the journey and not fall deeply in love - well, you haven't lived a life at all. You have to try. Because if you haven't tried, you haven't lived.~ William Parrish, from the film Meet Joe Black

Anonymous Profile
Anonymous answered
LOVE is something to be felt
when you are in LOVE it feels like you are floating on air when you are with your special someone
no matter what happens you are there for that person
no matter what happens you will do anything for that person
LOVE can be confusing at times
LOVE is hard
When you loose the one you LOVE is feels like you have no reason to live
LOVE is so amazing and I wish I didnt loose the one I LOVE
Anonymous Profile
Anonymous answered
What is love ? When you love someone youll stop your entire world for them when you love some one youll live on the streets together and call each other love bums when you love some one youll run away together leaving everything behind even if you get in trouble when you love some one and there away from you but you still have contact with them youll be waiting at the mailbox for the mailman to get there or by the phone to get a call from them when you love some one youll fight and go home and when she calls youll be running to the phone to pick it up and when she says I can't go to sleep if youre not next to me in bed and even though you just got home because you guys had a fight and its three in the morning youll try to be tough guy and be like no ill see you tomorrow but then she asks you again and you give in and walk all the way back to where you had just came from and when you guys see each other youll give each other a big hug and even though its only been a couple minutes to an hour youll say I missed youwhen your in love and there away from you just thinking about gives you that pain in your throat and youll do whatever it takes just to get to them when your in love you feel incomplete without them and then when you guys make love and shes on top of you or your on top of her youll stop in the middle of making love and be like I missed you and just hug each other while your inside of her just squeezing her never wanting to let her go when your in love a day apart from each other seems like an eternity and you can't wait to be with them the following day when your in love you tell them I am going to be here no matter what!!! And she says promise I promise man love is the best feeling ever I would trade everything for real true love I would trade diamonds and pearls rolexs and mansions and rolls rocyes and all the money in the world for real true love and grow old with them and have dozen babys to just be cuddling with them taking a shower with them or bubble bath when your in love don't take it for granted appreciate every moment you have with that person cause before you know it they wont be there and all your left with are memories and youll try to block them out but you can't so when your in love enjoy every second with that person stick with them through bad times and good times when your in love youll probably write as much as I did because thats what love makes you do well thats my answer for the big l>word okay sorry if it was to long or boring but thats what I think love is okay let me know what you think if you want! Smile now cry later!
Louise Tindall Profile
Louise Tindall answered
There is four different typed of love:

Philia - Love for family and friends
Eros - Love for your boyfriend/girlfriend/husband/wife
Agape - Unconditional love
Storge - Love for animals or things

We all love... But sometimes we don't even realise it :) x
NakedJay atltattoo Profile

Love is a force that draws one to another, creating a feeling of happiness and pleasure, and desire to share feelings and experiences. It is often spawned from an initial feeling of attraction, but ultimately is fueled by feelings of a bond between the two. Love need not be returned, unlike friendship. One can love another and the other feeling at all drawn to the one in love. Love can hurt as bad as anything imagineable. Love is not for the weak of heart, it can take all your strength to endure loving someone who does not love you. My advice is to seek out, make, and maintain friendships. You need not seek love because it will find you.

Mark Westbrook Profile
Mark Westbrook answered
Ah, the eternal question.  I'll give it a go.  Love is an intangible thing.  People should probably not put too much faith or belief in love because love is not something that they can touch and faith and belief is needed in something that cannot be tested or explored pragmatically.

Love doesn't actually exist.  Love is just a word that means a sum of many things.  It can encompass friendship, kinship, sexual lust, mental connection, physical connection and a bond.  The word love is without value.

But what about the feeling of Love?  Well, we certainly enjoy how we feel when we are 'in love'.  But isn't just love merely a confirmation that we aren't alone in the world and that someone enjoys making you feel good? Don't we like how it makes us feel and vice versa?

I'm not suggesting that love isn't real, I'm suggesting that we should look at love differently.  A relationship cannot be built on an idea, it must be built on the firm foundation of friendship, trust, mutual respect, and a physical and mental connection that includes lust and affection.
thanked the writer.
James Mejia
James Mejia commented
Just my answer for this question. This person knows what they're talking about.

=]

Great definition.
naren israney
naren israney commented
Love is like wind.
It cannot be seen but FELT.
When we are inlove with someone,
his/her mere presence makes our mind full of joy.
Our own desires, happiness suddenly become secondary
to this person's happiness and wellbeing.
We feel VERY happy when that person is HAPPY.
We feel very SAD if that person is sad.

For the whole world, we are just ONE person,
But, for us;that person becomes the WHOLE WORLD.
catherine adams
catherine adams commented
Love is the greatest healer of all time
jane francis Profile
jane francis answered
Love is a hard word to say I think,
love is were you think about that person all the time
do anything for them
stand by them in hard times and easy
respect the person
you would be soulmates
Anonymous Profile
Anonymous answered
I think love is a word that no1 can ever describe, we all have are different meanings and different thoughts.
Olesia Profile
Olesia answered
Love is something I can't understand. Sometimes I want it, sometimes I'm afraid of it. It's strange you'll say..but.. Love is terrible...
Anonymous Profile
Anonymous answered
Love is a feeling you grow for someone, love develops when you care for someone deeply and you can't imagine life ith out them.
I think those are the main facts of love but, their are different kind of loves like love between your bf/gf, or love with your family, or even love for a pet.
But when you say its love at first sight, that may be abit of love there, but I think that is more alike lust, cause love and lust have a thing line so watch out :D
abdirahman shukri Profile
Love is like an eternal flame,
Once it is lit, it will continue to burn for all time.


Love isn't blind, it just only sees what matters.

Love is a moment that lasts forever...

You will know the real meaning of love when you fall in love.

If a tear fell from my eyes, everytime I wished you were with me
I would have a puddle of fallen wishes at my feet
Anonymous Profile
Anonymous answered
Love  is  a   bond  between a man and
a  woman  
Love  is  a mother  and  dad loving
a  child  
thanked the writer.
sarra touati
sarra touati commented
I think that love is a attraction where two people fel something foe one a nother
i agre with u darren as well
Georgina Hall Profile
Georgina Hall answered
It depends on the love you are discussing - the love of a family, the love of a friend, or the love a partner. The love of a family is the sense of care and protection. You feel as though you would sacrafise anything to protect them, and you care only for their health and happiness. The love of a friend is where you support someone. You needn't feel for them fondly, just care for them. You are there to support them, and to help them when they need it. The love of a partner is where you feel very fondly towards someone. I am in love, and I describe it as a gooey, warm feeling inside, that brings you joy and happiness. You feel safe when they are around, and can truly trust them with anything. You will care for them no matter what. If you feel love, it for you love them for their personalities, not for what they look like. You love them for who they are, and not who they are trying to be.
vernice viduya Profile
vernice viduya answered
Love has no reason... Remember that... If you love someone it;s not because his like this or like that you love the person because you accept him/her for he/she really is... You accept him/her what ever he/she is ..
anupama kumar Profile
anupama kumar answered
Love is waking up thinking of someone and going to bed thinking of
them...love is missing them as soon as they leave you...love is the
butterflies that flutter in your stomach when you hear their voice...love is
forever growing and never dies.
Anonymous Profile
Anonymous answered

Love..
Its to commonly used people through it around like it's nothing to them. Everytime there dating someone there 'in love' once again.
Ever wonder when they say I love you if its real? They've been 'in love' so many times are you just going to be another one?

How do you know when it's the real thing..that's what I want to know.
People say you'll know when it's there but is there more to it..?

thanked the writer.
nichole cypher
nichole cypher commented
Well i think that if you are one of the people throwing it around then when you find someone you truly love you will wait to tell them just to be sure
Elisha Hildebrand Profile
This is a question that gets asked a lot. My believe is this, Love is something remarkable, unconditional, beautiful, and complicated, Its remarkable because when you love someone you take a adventure, a journey into a world of unknown. You don’t know what’s coming your way and what’s going to happen but you know that its all going to worth it. Its unconditional because we don’t make the chose to love someone are heart makes it for us. An no madder how much we try not to love that person we can't change it, what’s been made has been made. Its beautiful because love is combined into many segments. An its complicated because love takes you into many different directions. An we no when were in love with someone because we feel it in are heart. I can't really say what you will feel because everyone experiences it different. That’s what makes your love different for every one else’s. But sometimes we do have a tendency to mistake that feeling for something less then love. How can we tell the difference are instincts will tell us when its real.
wesley kiprono Profile
wesley kiprono answered
  love is a powerful emotional feeling we have for those we care,and those we need in our lives. Love involves actions we do in order to please the person we love and  also the effort we make in order not to hurt  their feelings.
Anonymous Profile
Anonymous answered
Love is the greatest ineffability in the globe.
It is, above all, God's benefaction to mankind.
It is hard to define, philosophers and poets like to probe.
The easiest way to describe are two hearts combined.
 
The foremost precedence is to love your Creator,
The arduous task is to cherish your antagonist,
A person who has no sense of adoration is a traitor,
It belongs to everybody not just protagonist.
 
The essence of love is kindness,
A lovable person is always solicitous.
Absence of amorousness is harshness.
The existence of fondness is felicitous.
 
The quintessence of affection is veracity.
The intention of love is familiarity.
Use the heart to achieve capacity.
People involved should live in prosperity.
 
If you love other, you do selfless thing.
You do thing which do not benefit your satisfaction.
It is not how long you mutually cling.
But how much love you put into action.
 
(C) By Ngeng G. Yeo
Anonymous Profile
Anonymous answered
Love is extremely confusing. When your in love sometimes you can never tell because of what your past relationships have done to you. And when you actually find the one that you think is "the one" and he treats you like no other kind of like a princess, you tend to get scared to let him have your heart because all your thinking about is your past. My advice to you, is to let it go its the past for a reason focus on your future and what you have now don't let your past relationships mess up what you have now live day by day and focus on moving forward with the one that you think is always going to be there! Focus on him or her!!!
thanked the writer.
Mikayla Hills
Mikayla Hills commented
Hi Jaynice _ko hello my name is Mikayla hills I am 11 years old and I would like you and another peolpe be like. If you would like to be my friend
nick hawker Profile
nick hawker answered
Easly put, you'll definitely know. You'll  meet that special someone and every time you two talk you constantly get butterflies. Everyday all you think about is that person. All you want to do is be with them every waking second or just to talk to them upon hours just telling them how yopu really feel straight to the heart. You'll open up and by time you know it you both know everything about each other. Really hope this helps
Anonymous Profile
Anonymous answered

Love is an emoional attachment between two individual which rests on sentiments, trust, love, affection, a sort of emotional dependency, expectations and many more.

Anonymous Profile
Anonymous answered
I'm in love. You can just tell when you are. And it's the strangest feeling, that you most probably will ever feel.
Nadya Bean Profile
Nadya Bean answered

I think love is like... Whenever you realize that your life wont be the same if you don't have that person in your life, whether their family or not. Also if its like.... Romance type love, that you think about them day or night, that kind of thing, that they will always be there for you no matter what.

Anonymous Profile
Anonymous answered

Love is wanting to be the reason behind the happiness of the person you love. You're the luckiest person alive if your love feels the same.

Anonymous Profile
Anonymous answered
Love is a feeling that you can feel. You feel warm an passionate around him or her. Love isn't just a word love a lots of complete meaning. Love is when your around that person an you feel different you can be yourself. You smile for no reason but just the sound of there voice makes you tingle inside...That when you know your in love
lloyd dailey Profile
lloyd dailey answered
Love is not having to say your sorry. Love is unconditional. Love is working together and he or she is the first thing on your mind in the morning and the last thing on your mind at night.
Bamlakfekad Yirgalem Profile
To be honest I don't even know how to explain love because I don't have enough words, however; love is the best thing in this world!!!
Anonymous Profile
Anonymous answered

Love it an affection a strong one indeed I agree and love it a passion a feeling that demands recognition

joyce Profile
joyce answered
Technically it is a feeling of affection for someone. But that doesn't go far enough. Well, it is affection but an incredibly strong one. It's really hard to explain. But when it happens to you, you'll know. And if you have to ask, it hasn't happened yet.
kevin garnett Profile
kevin garnett answered

To be honor with each other, be proud of each other, support with each other, I think that's what love all about

fatima hanif Profile
fatima hanif answered
Love is life and smthng tht makes your life beautiful and you begins to live in a paradise of imagination tht you think more gracefull thn anythng else in world.
Devin Brown Profile
Devin Brown answered
Love is a very strong word but some people don't know that so love is when a man and a women bond and get to know each other and have things in common so they are friends then boyfriend or girlfriend and then they are husband and wife
Mercedes Santiago Profile
When that persons happiness becomes more important than your own when you wonder if there ok when you're not with them when you're willing to sacrifice anything to be with them or to see them happy
Anonymous Profile
Anonymous answered
Love is a relationship which makes you go beyond what you just see its something which no one can truly explain.....
millicent williams Profile
We all need love dear it helps us bond with family and friends,imagine a world without love were all people were cold and "unloving" and untrusting.A world such as this would be pointless whereas you and I have folk who love us and we love them back.
Clarissa Schotanus Profile
Love is the feeling you get when you see the one you love,
the butterflies start fluttering in your stomach,
hear your heart loud in your ears,
when you would stop any thing to be with 'the one',
when you get jelous when the talk to someone else,
when you would do any thing for them you know you love them :)
you could love a best friend,
your family,
you could be passionate for some thing like a animal or hobby,
or it could be your partner
everyone experiences love diffrently
faith Profile
faith answered
Love is many things.  When you are with your best friend of the opposite sex or same sex, whichever you choose, and they make you feel so good every time you are with them.  You have a tingling feeling everytime you see them or hear their voice.  You just want to be with them all of the time.  They make you feel special and you just can't live without them. You miss them when they are gone and just can't get enough of them.  That's what love is to me.
le thu Profile
le thu answered
Love is a kind of emotion. It makes us happy when we are received opposite sex's love. Angring when 'someone' don't phone. Sometimes, sad feeling when 'someone' don't remember birthday. And it's terrible if 'someone' isn't interested in one' feeling.
rico ruiz Profile
rico ruiz answered

Love has many sides, love for your friends, family, pets, an object, a place or a singular person. For your family you would sacrifice anything for them the same as friends an pets, for an object or place it varies depending on sentimental value to you, for a single person tho sometimes more it is the sound of their voice, their footsteps, their breathing, their heart that instantly makes you feel warm inside and safe an like on cloud 9.

The touch of their hand on your arm or the touch of their lips on your cheek or even looking into each others eyes makes you smile and never want the moment to end to wish it would go on for eternity, a single word from them even just a hey makes your heart race and fill you with the need just to run into their arms, to know all their mistakes their flaws an differences and still want them for who they are, to be able to act your self around them and not hide a single thing from them, to feel like no one else exists or matters when your together, to feel a emptiness a desolation a loss as soon as your apart, a huge sense of sadness even only a few rooms away.

The feeling of elation an joy when you see each other even after a minute, longing to be in the others arms when you apart, the feeling of being unable to express the magnitude of what you feel for them, that the words I love you are too small to convey the depth the unfathomable-ness of how much you love them that the words some how are inadequate for what you truly feel, the feeling and knowing that you would scarifies an do anything for them to smile one more time, to be able to comprehend that you would actually give your life up without fighting to live just to let them live, to want to just make them happy no matter what, to think of them about them non stop even tho sometimes you don't realize it, to trust them completely, respect, accept, support them unconditionally not minding their quirks an peculiarities that they have, to understand them and what they go through and have gone through, its hard to explain love though I have tried

Anonymous Profile
Anonymous answered

Basically what you feel for someone else that you like a lot, maybe more than others.

Latrice Profile
Latrice answered
Love blinds us of the imperfect, the way you can love someone so much for so long 

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