The New Question of the 'Week'

[Der Übermensch]

Ok, here it is, the new installment. As before, I will state that what I am looking for is soundbites of what pops into your mind when you read the question, NOT what pops into your mind after reading other peoples responses. You can get into that after your initial response, as the last thread showed that it is impossible to keep that from happening, but please refrain from making that your initial post.

That being said, the new question is:

What is Love?

[spitfirejunky]

Baby don't hurt me.

But seriously, it's a human construct.

[Zesty Mordant]

umm, a human perception that tends to denote happiness from a tangible thing.

I really don't know, this is just like that Lauryn Hill album.

gay.

[Joe]

An unexplainable feeling that makes you happy.

[Against Miik!]

A made up concept. Some cultures don't even have a word for love.

That being said, i'm pretty sure i'm in love.

[Reaganista]

generally: affection

specifically: romantic love is when you care about a thing that you're ****ing even at times when you aren't ****ing it.

it's all designed to reinforce the capitalist order somehow.

[Jharaski]

Reactions in the body that release chemicals that make you feel all loopy, tingles your heart, makes you feel like you're on pluto (you can practically float!) and makes you feel awful when they're not returned. In short - chemicals. Which is why it can be so unexplainable and uncontrollable, such as when you "fall in love" with someone who might even hate you, and even though you might hate them, these danged chemicals keep you in love.

[Reaganista]

under capitalism, love has a lot to do with glands and greenbacks

under communism people will be able to forget about such trivial things and really get to know each other. and risk-free analingus, since they've got free healthcare

[Der Übermensch]

Love, or at least romantic love, is a construct of the middle ages and courtly love. Before that, Love was considered a rather bad thing to fall into.
And as CS Lewis put it, the idealization of love in a society where marriage is utilitarian, starts with the idealization of adultery.

[Hutch306]

Love is weird. It shows up out of nowhere, makes you do stupid things (tatoos, buying "woman" products at Wal-Mart, etc), and will make you want to stay with one person for the rest of your life. It's weird...

[BassRevelation1029]

Baby don't hurt me.

very nice :p

love is a feeling. However, there are different kinds of love. Hopefully not irrelevant, but I will make the case that everyone loves themselves.

[Mr. Ron]

I'm in love right now with a lovely lady.:D

I think it's just caring and having affection for someone. Thats all.

[Reaganista]

I think it's just caring and having affection for someone. Thats all.
yeah but if you had iron-clad health care it'd also be about licking ***

[Mr. Ron]

yeah but if you had iron-clad health care it'd also be about licking ***
Touche.......hmmmm.

[LittlePound]

love is the giving of oneself without expecting anything in return.

[pikester]

Did I miss Tway's gimmick change?

[coheneran]

Ok, here it is, the new installment. As before, I will state that what I am looking for is soundbites of what pops into your mind when you read the question, NOT what pops into your mind after reading other peoples responses. You can get into that after your initial response, as the last thread showed that it is impossible to keep that from happening, but please refrain from making that your initial post.

That being said, the new question is:

What is Love?

Love is an incredible emotion, and the only one that can override the survival instinct of a person, which makes it quite a bit more significant than other emotions. I don't know in what way though.

Love is weird. It shows up out of nowhere, makes you do stupid things (tatoos, buying "woman" products at Wal-Mart, etc), and will make you want to stay with one person for the rest of your life. It's weird...

Lol, those aren't out of love, those are what capitalism and consumerism want you to do, and convince you to do. Writing a song or a poem is infinitely more romantic and symbollic of love than buying a dozen red roses or a box of chocolates or a lacy bra.

[PerpetualBurn]

What is love?

Gonna find my baby, gonna hold her tight
Gonna grab some afternoon delight
My motto's always been 'when it's right, it's right'
Why wait until the middle of a cold dark night?
When everything's a little clearer in the light of day
And we know the night is always gonna be there any way

Thinkin' of you's workin' up my appetite
Looking forward to a little afternoon delight
Rubbin' sticks and stones together makes the sparks ingite
And the thought of lovin' you is getting so exciting
Sky rockets in flight
Afternoon delight
Afternoon delight
Afternoon delight

[Smokey D]

Love, or at least romantic love, is a construct of the middle ages and courtly love. Before that, Love was considered a rather bad thing to fall into.
And as CS Lewis put it, the idealization of love in a society where marriage is utilitarian, starts with the idealization of adultery.


Are you suggesting people didn't feel strong emotional attatchments to each other prior to the Middle Ages?

[badtaste]

A further question: Does love cost anything?

Is it possible to love without spending a dime/cent?

[Amit]

and risk-free analingus, since they've got free healthcare

This is love.

:tithings:

[neal_672]

What is love?

Gonna find my baby, gonna hold her tight
Gonna grab some afternoon delight
My motto's always been 'when it's right, it's right'
Why wait until the middle of a cold dark night?
When everything's a little clearer in the light of day
And we know the night is always gonna be there any way

Thinkin' of you's workin' up my appetite
Looking forward to a little afternoon delight
Rubbin' sticks and stones together makes the sparks ingite
And the thought of lovin' you is getting so exciting
Sky rockets in flight
Afternoon delight
Afternoon delight
Afternoon delight


:lol: :lol:

That song just reminds me of The Anchorman everytime i hear it.

[Der Übermensch]

Are you suggesting people didn't feel strong emotional attatchments to each other prior to the Middle Ages?

Perhaps they did, but it was considered a bad thing. Love [Eros] was something that greek and roman girls would pray not to be visited upon by. It was a mental illness, a disease. Marriage wasn't about love, it was about utility.

[neal_672]

Perhaps they did, but it was considered a bad thing. Love [Eros] was something that greek and roman girls would pray not to be visited upon by. It was a mental illness, a disease. Marriage wasn't about love, it was about utility.

Indeed, marriage was sorted on the basis of benefits to the family (usually) but that's not neccessarily to say nobody had feelings of love then either. Definitely agree on the fact that most marriages were based upon benefits for the families involved though...

[SubtleDagger]

I think that romantic-wise, love is being best friends with a person you are heavily attracted to.

Yes, I really do think it is that simple.

[Mr. Ron]

I think that romantic-wise, love is being best friends with a person you are heavily attracted to.

Yes, I really do think it is that simple.
Yeah, I agree.



A question for all of you....do you think that love is more of a feeling, or a decision?

[neal_672]

Yeah, I agree.



A question for all of you....do you think that love is more of a feeling, or a decision?

Both. Love itself is a feeling, but you decide when you're in love as opposed to when you're heavily attracted to someone, so yeah both, but they're inextricably linked together..

[Mr. Ron]

Both. Love itself is a feeling, but you decide when you're in love as opposed to when you're heavily attracted to someone, so yeah both, but they're inextricably linked together..
True. Lets say, you meet a girl and the attraction is just there. You automatically know you're going to care for her. Now, would it be wrong to tell her that you love her even though it's early in the relationship?

[Smokey D]

Perhaps they did, but it was considered a bad thing. Love [Eros] was something that greek and roman girls would pray not to be visited upon by. It was a mental illness, a disease. Marriage wasn't about love, it was about utility.

Eros is distinct from our conceptions of love- it's much closer to lust, desire for physical passion, than contentment attained in the person of a loved one. You're also proposing the insanely Eurocentric point of view that white folk invented love.

[peeted]

i think that the concept of love is subjective because its not a thing in itself but a socialy defined concept. people can experience diffrent things and call it love but at the base of it in any sense is strong passion of some sort. im not realy shure if iv made up my mind on it though :/

oh and greeks did have love but it tended to be more between older and younger men, marage was more out of utility than anything else.

[Der Übermensch]

Eros is distinct from our conceptions of love- it's much closer to lust, desire for physical passion, than contentment attained in the person of a loved one. You're also proposing the insanely Eurocentric point of view that white folk invented love.

Love in the cliché romantic courtship type sense, was invented by europeans.
Love as an emotion is without origin.

[Wolf-]

Love is one of those beautiful drugs created by your own body. When you love a girl, your body starts all these wonderful chemical reactions that make you feel happy. It's not coincidence that 'I love you' is most often said after reaching a sexual height.

[mcmurray]

Love is that strange magnetism that attracts you to certain things, and keeps you attracted to them whether that be in a "I love my wife" fashion or "I love that book" kind of thing.

[coheneran]

A further question: Does love cost anything?

Is it possible to love without spending a dime/cent?

Just to clear that up, do you mean "is it possible to love without spending a penny on modifying (marriage rituals, strengthening bond etc) the love" or "is it possible to love in a society that does not revolve and is not based on currency"?

If it's the former then I would answer you with a question: "What kind of stupid ****ing question is that?!" If it's the latter, I would say that "Yes, it is possible, since the North American Indian tribes had a romantic/love system based on free love and no justified jealousy".

[BassRevelation1029]

Love is one of those beautiful drugs created by your own body. When you love a girl, your body starts all these wonderful chemical reactions that make you feel happy. It's not coincidence that 'I love you' is most often said after reaching a sexual height.
then the encounter would create the reactions in your body, making it real?

[LittlePound]

A further question: Does love cost anything?

Is it possible to love without spending a dime/cent?
Love costs more than any monetary value could afford. But yes, you can be in love and never spend a dime on somebody. Loving somebody is expensive, but not necesarily money wise. It's also probably one of the hardest things to do (which is why hte divorce rate in the US is well over 50%, or it could be people are stupid and have low standards and will marry anybody knowing they can later divorce them).To love somebody, and to show them love, when you're really not very happy with them is probably one of the hardest things any person could encounter.

[Wolf-]

then the encounter would create the reactions in your body, making it real?
Your brain does weird things when you reach an orgasm, but also when you get into a rage for example.

[BassRevelation1029]

but you did not create that mood

[Reaganista]

A further question: Does love cost anything?

Is it possible to love without spending a dime/cent?
not in a materialistic society such as ours.

love can only be understood in terms of money

[coheneran]

not in a materialistic society such as ours.

love can only be understood in terms of money

Oh, you confuse me so! Internet sarcasm sucks.

[Mr Pink Tulip]

It's a product of our evolution.
How else could we put up our partener for years, other species just squirt it out and leave.

[coheneran]

It's a product of our evolution.
How else could we put up our partener for years, other species just squirt it out and leave.

Swans stay with their partner until one of them dies. There are other species like that I think, not sure which.

A swan can break a man's arm y'know.

[Reaganista]

canines. especially wolves, some dogs have had it bread out of them
and ducks I think

[SubtleDagger]

I have had dogs that have done that. The male died and the female went off into the woods and (we assumed) died soon after.

[peeted]

shopenhour and plato had intresting things to say about love. i forget exactley what though.

[Reaganista]

so all you do is drop names, right

[Afro Ninja]

I have a theory that love is most often times just a subconscious(sp) rememberance of great times people have had together.

[coheneran]

I have a theory that love is most often times just a subconscious(sp) rememberance of great times people have had together.

So love at first sight is...?

[badtaste]

Just to clear that up, do you mean "is it possible to love without spending a penny on modifying (marriage rituals, strengthening bond etc) the love" or "is it possible to love in a society that does not revolve and is not based on currency"?

If it's the former then I would answer you with a question: "What kind of stupid ****ing question is that?!" If it's the latter, I would say that "Yes, it is possible, since the North American Indian tribes had a romantic/love system based on free love and no justified jealousy".

Yes, I did intend for my questions to be pretty ambiguous, but I was thinking in context of your typical Western society.

Looking at your typical Western society, love seems to be declared through buying gifts, going on dates, etc... I was wondering if you could have love that didn't revolve around that type of thing. Actually, I give up.

[Smokey D]

That's not love. That's expressions of love, of desire to love and be love, or of wanting to sate certain physical needs.

[peeted]

so all you do is drop names, right
why say something wen someone else has allready said it better?

[Yield]

Love is something that when a man and a women get together, they start to thinkin, "well hey, this persons pretty cool". The man isn't checkin her out just yet because he's not really caring right now, because all he cares about is that he likes her and she's got a nice face. And the women is thinkin that she should dump her boyfriend right now for this guy. That's what I think. Sadly though, if this is how everything works then it accounts for the ammount of divorces.

[PerpetualBurn]

so all you do is drop names, right

I bet Aristotle had an interesting opinion on that. I don't have a clue what it would be though.

[Chrizzle fo' Shizzle]

Love is just another word for revenge

//_;

[Chrysostom]

Love is a chemical reaction in the brain designed to keep the parents of the resultant offspring together long enough to ensure said offspring's survival. Nothing more. If human children weren't underdeveloped at birth then the brain probably wouldn't have evolved such a function.

[Reaganista]

why say something wen someone else has allready said it better?
you didn't even seem like you knew what they'd already said

[coheneran]

Love is a chemical reaction in the brain designed to keep the parents of the resultant offspring together long enough to ensure said offspring's survival. Nothing more. If human children weren't underdeveloped at birth then the brain probably wouldn't have evolved such a function.

How does that account for every split relationship with young children? Or platonic love? Or homosexual love? Or childless marriages that last a lifetime?