Defining Love (6)

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Dreaming permits each and every one of us to be quietly and safely insane every night of our lives.
- William Dement

This used to be my definition too. After children I have had to change it. There are people I love and would take a bullet for if it didn't leave my kids without a Dad. Of course them I would walk through lava for.

Strangley, my ex - the mother of my kids - I would take a bullet for, even though we are now only friends; love is still there but no longer burns with the intensity of partnership. I would not see my kids without their Mum though.

Back to the question...

The people I love I would always listen to, no matter what they did. I might not agree with their course, I might find it morally repugnent, it might be something criminal beyond the pale, but though I might not sympathise I would always listen to them. I might well judge, but they would never be denied my ear and my counsel.

I do like your definition jules9, but I cry way to easily to use that one for me.

Oh yes...BTW...It's MY multiverse, fight you for it .

I'm here to help

i agree with this, and might add that even in the event of an arguement or similar, regardless of where the fault lies, you would back down, rather than damage that relationship, and live with their flaws and vice versa because you love them.

You only live once - but if you work it right, once is enough.

If it's my family, I'm overwhelmed with gratitude.

Then I know I love them.

"Nothing saves anyone's life, Sir. It just postpones their death." - Posner , The History Boys.
All it takes for bad English to prevail is for literate people to do nothing.

Its something i find hard to express and i shouldn't need to it's just there.

I love my son in a different way to the way i love my parents and sister.

I love my friends.

I still love ex partners but i am not in love with them.

And if any of the above need me i am there i turn up with tea and symphathy when needed. I am there in good times and the bad.

I always say to my father i loved you so much that i lifted you on the toilet and saw your winky when you'd had your stroke. That's dedication for you.

Love its understanding and meaning to you, as an individual, will evolve as time passes. Not always do W/we fully understand the profoundness of such a powerful 'emotion' until W/we have traipsed the depths of despair and endured the loss of many things.

Love is a very personal emotion, it differs for E/each individual, its meaning, and strength of meaning, can not be quantified. Some times 'W/we love' with out even realising W/we love...it may take a passing for realisation to hit home...then...the tears that are shed are not always for the loss of a P/person...but from a subtle guilt of not acknowledging its existence prior to the passing of A/another.

The greatest inhibitor of love is 'hurt'...hurt that O/one may have endured. Hurt shrouds the admission of love...hurt reduces the need to feel and express love...but it is a negative, a negative action that compounds its self, therefore suppressing a very basic and uplifting need. To deny love within O/ones self precludes O/others from entering O/our lives with any depth of meaning.

I will guarantee you one thing: ask yourself the same question 10...20...30 years from now and you will arrive at different answers at each stage of your journey.

"Love is not defined by the act, but by empathy for A/another. Love precludes hypocrisy. Love is unselfish; not based on S/self-need or want. Love is not conditioned on reciprocity or calculation of repayment. Love doesn't care W/who gets the credit. Love is active; not merely passive or theoretical; love doesn't loiter. Love believes and trusts in A/another.Love is directed toward P/people; not things, ideas, doctrines, principles. Love precludes resentment, covetousness, and judgment of A/another. Love seeks to commend, not condemn. Love is not conditioned on the lovability or action of the recipient. Love is not fickle; it is unchanging and limitless. Love precludes despair at the loss or absence of the P/person loved. Love does not engage in comparison.Love does not find its identity or life in the O/one loved. Love is the antidote to fear and paranoia (I Jn. 4:18) Love seeks the highest good of the other, with no thought of benefit to O/oneself. Love is willing to suffer slights, hurts, abuse. Love builds others up, nurtures, edifies; it is constructive, not destructive. Love cannot be coerced or obliged by law or moral principle and program. Love 'should' exclude suspicion and mistrust".