Love.....

[Triste]

Do you think there is a difference between loving someone and being in love with someone?
I think that you can love a person (care for them and be their friend) without necessarily being in love with them (you know when you get that funny feeling in your chest like your heart is about to burst and your stomach is going to fall to your knees?)

 

[BillowOfZeal]

Without a doubt

 

[Blackspirit]

Originally posted by MightyA
I love my parents and my sisters.
I think I have never been in love with anyone, but I have had that "funny feeling". If that is love...then it is. But I must say if that is the case I'm disappointed.

I think you'll know for sure if you're in love or not!
Love is really powerfull and strong! ))

 

[TheMindzI]

There are different kinds of love. I've read an article about love and I think it said something about 4-5 kinds of love.. as distinguished by ancient Greek philosophers. It had exact definitions of each kind and how it is expressed but I can quite remember right now. I'll post any further infos if I'm lucky enough to find it again.

 

[Sadistik]

Love is really powerfull and strong

yeah, it's kicked my ass once or twice!

 

[Belial]

Love is an illusion, mouthed off by those seeking to find meaning in their lives. Which, I should add is pretty much all of us, since we're naturally driven to find meaning.

 

[Brutalizer]

Originally posted by Triste
Do you think there is a difference between loving someone and being in love with someone?
I think that you can love a person (care for them and be their friend) without necessarily being in love with them (you know when you get that funny feeling in your chest like your heart is about to burst and your stomach is going to fall to your knees?)

I couldn't have written it better myself! hehe
I agree also, totally!

 

[astarte]

i think i've been in love just once and it was the worst period of my life i do not want that again..

 

[Triste]

Ok, well....Do you think there is such a thing as true (troo ) love or love at first sight?

Have you ever entered a room and made eye contact with someone and you know you and that person are meant to be in each other lives?
There's a person whom I met where I can remember the second we saw each other....Everything else in the room was blurry and seemed like it had slowed down, except for his face, which was crystal clear.

I've heard a saying that if you enter a room and are immediately attracted to someone there and you don't know why, then you need to get the hell out of that room and run the other way as fast as possible....

....and why does love hurt so damn much?.....

 

[Belial]

I'm probably the last person who should be replying in this thread, since I believe that the whole concept of love is an illusion, but I have a question on the subject that gnaws at me.

Is love an extraordinary sensation like all the mystique around it says it is, or is it just a form of lust that has been misconstued and given a heightened sence of importance?

I guess you can tell who's never been in love before. The more I think about it, the more I believe that love, as we think of it, simply doesn't exist... I don't mean to be rude, I'm just curious.

 

[Wolff]

I'd say love is different from lust in that lust is mainly physical; love includes that and some intellectual as well as sensual attraction.

 

[Duvall]

Love is a many splendoured thing.. love.. lifts us up where we belong.. All you need is love!

I don't know if I'm the best person to be talking about love.. I'm currently in what I would say is my first real non-familial "love" situation - a situation that's still in its infancy, if all goes well.

I love my family, that's unquestionable. None among them has done me any genuine harm, so I suppose this is a given.

I love my friends. I call it a "deep-seated respect and understanding." My last gf didn't believe in "true" (troo! ) love, so we "loved" each other on those terms. That's the love I have for my best friends, and it's something I know won't fade.

I love my girlfriend. We haven't known each other long, but the connection and mutual attraction we felt was undeniable. We both constantly think about each other, care for one another's well-being, empathize and sympathize. Certainly, there is a lust alongside that love, but it is truly seperate. I completely respect her ideas, notions, opinions, wants and desires, and she respects me similarly.

Is that love? Well, I ask myself that a lot. Having never felt this before, I have to evaluate it at all times to know its nature within me. After a lot of deliberation.. I have concluded that I do feel something genuine and unique for Jaclyn (that's her name, btw ). My spirits are lifted when I think about her, hearing her voice is the highlight of my day. I can honestly say that I haven't felt this happy in...well.. probably ever.

Now I'm not trying to push my feelings on love upon anyone. Love is too subjective a thing to preach, etc. But from what I can tell.. there is a unifying essence to it that everyone will eventually feel. I think it's an inborn drive to seek companionship - really just a mess of chemicals and pheromones - that guide us all through life. So to all out there.. there is love waiting for you. It may come in the strangest of forms, in the most bizarre of places, and the most compromising of times.. but it does exist.

(Does this look like the writing of a sane man? Not to me..)

 

[hibernal_dream]

"Love is like the sun coming out from behind the clouds and warming your soul. It may only last a moment, an hour, an afternoon. But that doesn't diminish its value".

 

[Misanthrope]

Love is an illusion, mouthed off by those seeking to find meaning in their lives. Which, I should add is pretty much all of us, since we're naturally driven to find meaning.

If so is so overwhelming that it becomes more real than anything i know, i could not think of any illusion that is more powerfull if what you say is true. And no is not lust, or sexual desire, maybe someday you will round around in circles in your mind with what it look like the first truly selfless thoughts you had in your life ( not that they are im not shure of that but they feel absolutely selfless ) that is a hint, there are many hints but that one proves is an emocional and intellectual thing that has some bounds with lust but can coexist without them at all.

 

[RETIREDTrapped]

Is love an extraordinary sensation like all the mystique around it says it is, or is it just a form of lust that has been misconstued and given a heightened sence of importance?

Love and Lust are two totally different things.

..Have you never just 'clicked' with someone?

 

[lumen]

That funny feeling you get in your chest is just hormones taking control and overriding your senses. And they're sneaky because they take over your mental faculties and convince you it's about way more than just physical attraction.

Caring about people lasts. Being in love wears off eventually. (Especially once you get to know all the little annoying and little eccentricities under your lover's desirable surface.) Sad but oh so true.

 

[Lina]

Originally posted by llamaura
That funny feeling you get in your chest is just hormones taking control and overriding your senses. And they're sneaky because they take over your mental faculties and convince you it's about way more than just physical attraction.

Caring about people lasts. Being in love wears off eventually. (Especially once you get to know all the little annoying and little eccentricities under your lover's desirable surface.) Sad but oh so true.

you're contradicting yourself. first you say that the butterflies in the chest are just hormones, not a sign of love. but then you say that "caring about people lasts; being in love wears off eventually." it's the butterflies that wear off eventually -- but i thought you said they weren't love to begin with.

i agree that the pitter-patter in the chest is more often about attraction and the excitement in the early stages of a relationship. but loving someone in a romantic way doesn't necessarily fade. sure, it does for many people, but i think that's because their personalities weren't developed enough and compatible enough to fall back on. lasting love, in my opinion, is the melding of respect and appreciation of each other's personalities with a sustained attraction to each other. it doesn't mean you won't be attracted to other people ever again in your life -- it just means you respect (love) your relationship and the person too much to act on that attraction and risk jeopardizing it.


i can't stand people who believe in love at first sight. there, how's that for a broad-sweeping statement? i honestly just think they're confusing two very obvious, well-defined terms -- love and lust. sure, there can be an attraction. sure, you can hope to be with that person forever (even supposedly "know" that you will be). but there's no possible way to love someone when you don't know their personality. damn unrealistic romantic dreamers!

 

[ZirnaLuna]

HAHAHAHAHA!!! Do I think there is a difference between "loving someone" and being "in love"?! What a silly question! I absolutely believe that there is a difference. First of all, let me say: I have never been in love. And I know that.... none of this..."I don't think I've been in love....????" crap! I believe that when I am in love, I will know. I won't have to think about it.

There are very few people that I can say that I "love". I can count them on half on one of my hands. Isn't that sad?.... Ah well, c'est la vie. Anyway, I love my father. I love my step-mother. I love my best friend. Now, I'm going to state the obvious here: I'm not in love with my father. I'm not in love with my step-mother. Even though it may not be obvious, I'm not in love with my best friend. Although, I feel that if everything was "right" in that vein of our relationship, I could be deeply "in love" with him.... but that's another tale.

Greek philosophers??? Give me a break. And what is this crap about only 4-5 kinds of love?? That is as silly as saying that there is only one kind of love! How can one possibly estimate how many kinds of love there are? Am I the only one that believes it to be true that unique aspects of each relationship make the feelings you hold toward that "friend" different than the feelings that you hold toward a different, but equally as important "friend"? I can't possibly be the only one......C'mon!! Who's with me?!?!! heh!

 

[Belial]

Originally posted by Trapped


Love and Lust are two totally different things.

..Have you never just 'clicked' with someone?

No, can't say I have. But then again I haven't hung around people that much.

 

[Belial]

Originally posted by Misanthrope


If so is so overwhelming that it becomes more real than anything i know, i could not think of any illusion that is more powerfull if what you say is true. And no is not lust, or sexual desire, maybe someday you will round around in circles in your mind with what it look like the first truly selfless thoughts you had in your life ( not that they are im not shure of that but they feel absolutely selfless ) that is a hint, there are many hints but that one proves is an emocional and intellectual thing that has some bounds with lust but can coexist without them at all.

So basically you're saying "I will know what love is when I experience it." ...I can only take your word on that one. Maybe I'll fall in love someday, maybe I won't. I guess that's all up to circumstance.