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Love
From the beginning of time to the present day, the definition of love is debated and discussed by the greatest scholars of every generation. Created with shaping the world as we know it, love is well known to have given the human race unknown joy alongside indescribable death and destruction across the geographical landscape. As I further researched the meaning, I came to realize that isolating love into a small realm is nearly impossible for even the most intelligent of authors. Religious zealots, wives, children, sports teams, and historical figures all experience love in a different magnitude. According to Merriam Webster’s dictionary, “Love is defined as feeling great affection, pleasure, or desire for a person or object.” By
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Commonplace teachings in the Protestant religion display the sacrifices of God in love to ensure there is an afterlife for the human race. Though peaceful in nature, this loving teaching led to great wars, such as the Crusades to Jerusalem, among the different races and religions throughout history in Europe and Asia. Religious zealots often conducted different wars of love on their own population. In an effort to cleanse the sins of the wicked, tactics of torture and embarrassment such as public beatings, stoning, and shamed walks in the nude down city streets were just a few of the many undertakings of these extremists. Closer to the present day, we still find fanatical people from many countries giving the world their own special gift in the spirit of love through their religion. Bearing a heavy toll in this never ending battle, terrorists such as the recent suicide bombers in France continue to escalate their ideals and religious devotion of love to their …show more content…
Assisted through the genetic nature of man and woman to reproduce, meaningful devotion to someone of the opposite sex is love in its more rewarding and challenging form. When you find the right individual, the emotions triggered can provide a reaction that can never be repeated. As in many stories of the past, such some written by Shakespeare, real love between a man and woman is able to overcome any challenge or obstacle laid before it. One of the most famous being the story of Romeo and Juliet, where family hatred could not halt the magic and desire between a man and woman who found their destiny with each other. Tragically the story ends with the irony that the pure joy of love between them never fully was achieved as death was their reward. Unfortunately, this foreshadowing is a whimsical representation of the relationships of couples today. With the ever increasing divorce rate, I see a redefining of this form of love for future generations. As the bond between man and woman is quickly eroded with minute effort, the challenge of maintaining an intimate loving relationship with a single person today is truly the most significant obstacle for society in general moving
love in the context of being a device that is used to protect and to care for people
Love and affection is an indispensable part of human life. In different culture love may appear differently. In the poem “My god my lotus” lovers responded to each other differently than in the poem “Fishhawk”. Likewise, the presentation of female sexuality, gender disparity and presentation of love were shown inversely in these two poems. Some may argue that love in the past was not as same as love in present. However, we can still find some lovers who are staying with their partners just to maintain the relationship. We may also find some lovers having relationship only because of self-interest. However, a love relationship should always be out of self-interest and must be based on mutual interest. A love usually obtains its perfectness when it develops from both partners equally and with same affection.
Why does one love? One loves for the sake of happiness. This was the common mindset in the pre-modern worldview from the time of ancient Greece. The ideas present in Plato’s The Symposium have however been replaced with a more contemporary view, particularly in Western societies. Allan Bloom details this transition in his work Love and Friendship. Bloom argues that the idea of “eros” has lost its true meaning; it has been morphed into a selfish and self-less act of mere sex: “Eros, in its Freudian version, is really all just selfishness and provides no basis for intimate human connection” (Bloom 24). Sex is no longer a form of a strong, intimate connection, but rather our contemporaries have allowed sex to become “no different from a description of eating habits” (Bloom 20). Society today sees sex everywhere, it is forced upon us by the media, but there’s no beauty in it. Love relationships once were for the purpose of exchanging knowledge, today it is a label frequently and erroneously used.
What is love? The age-old question arises once more. In truth, a universal definition has not been agreed upon, but generally one can define love as “an indication of adoration” or an “an ineffable feeling of intense attraction shared in interpersonal and sexual relationships.” Love can be directed towards kin, a lover, oneself, nature, or humanity- but regardless that love in an emotional sense is eternal. Some fall into love, and some claim they fall out. Love should be endless, lasting, and pure, but half of the time that love ends up being a sham. There is solid record of this false love- love that is meant to look pure- in the famous writings The Lottery and To His Coy Mistress.
Love in its purest form is an unconditional selfless love like a mother’s love for her child, but what is love? Is love a feeling of deep affection of is it a burning desire for a companion? Love is wanting someone to be happy and putting their necessities and desires before one’s own needs. Throughout all the diverse cultures that have risen, fallen, and/or survived the test of time; love has been defined in such disparate ways which are shown in their cultures, literature, and history.
It is uneasy to accept the fact that the way our society is set up is changing; things are not what our history books have said to be anymore. Some changes are, indeed are for the worse, causing despair and agony, but, there are some changes that bring people closer, help spread love and have the vibrancy of beautifying unexplainable emotions flowing. This beautiful change is spreading like the unstoppable virus, captivating the hearts of those stone cold citizens who prefer to live the way our “norms” are set up. This beautiful change is no other than love, same-sex love. Or decades, those who were lesbian or gay have struggled, bullied, tortured, and disowned by their friend and families and all toward what? Because they were different, because they did not live up to the society 's norms, because they fell in love. Our society needs to stop defining the meaning of love; let our hearts define it
In the play “Romeo and Juliet”, Shakespeare shows that love has power to control one’s actions, feelings, and the relationship itself through the bond between a destined couple. The passion between the pair grew strong enough to have the capability to do these mighty things. The predestined newlyweds are brought down a rocky road of obstacles learning love’s strength and the meaning of love.
Oftentimes, the idea of romance between people is greatly misunderstood. The never-ending thoughts and concepts about falling head over heels to someone have always been significant—and most of the time, people, no matter what their position in the society is, find themselves wondering about the possibilities of finding their own soulmate. In William Shakespeare’s “Romeo and Juliet,” the poet tells a tragic love story about two young lovers. A story that depicts one’s emotions and how relationships among people are vastly influenced by their impulsive
Love is said to be one of the most desired things in life. People long for it, search for it, and crave it. It can come in the form of partners, friends, or just simply family. To some, love is something of a necessity in life, where some would rather turn a cold shoulder to it. Love can be the mixture of passion, need, lust, loyalty, and blood. Love can be extraordinary and breathtaking. Love being held so high can also be dangerous. Love can drive people to numerous mad things with it dangerously so full of craze and passion.
The Definition of Love Love by definition is an emotion explored in philosophy, religion, and literature, often as either romantic love, the fraternal love of others, or the love of God based on the definition found in The Encarta Encyclopedia. As I explored the definitions through the Internet, books, and articles, I noticed the definitions changed quite a bit, but yet had the same basic understanding. The definition I found in The Encarta Encyclopedia is probably the most simple and most basic. It refers to love in the whole aspect, which is Godly, fraternal, and romantic. All of which can only be defined by one word and that is love.
The study of human emotions began in the late 1970s and has flourished since; centring on the role it plays in the personal and social life of the individual, and how culture influences emotion (Lutz & White 1986: 405, 410). Love is considered to be one of the six, fundamental emotions surrounding human attachment (Lindholm 1982 in Lutz & White 1986: 411), and has been defined as the strong feeling of affection or attraction, which is more profound than fondness (Oxford Dictionary of Psychology 2009). Consequently, the notion of “Love” has long been a topic of interest, leading to an explosion of literature on love (Sarsby 1983: 20).
Indeed, romantic love may begin in biology, as Solomon puts it, “the inspiration and exhilaration of sexual attraction” (Solomon 43). However, romantic love is more than just sex or the means that nature uses to ensure human reproduction. It is guided and nurtured by ideas the lovers have about themselves, each other, and the world. First of all, romantic love is exclusive. Although being entitled “restricting”, “not permitting” and “not sharing with others”, exclusivity is considered as a moral norm which enables the people in romantic relationship to have more control and power. Secondly, romantic love is reciprocal. While some people are claiming that they are giving everything to their beloved ones and do not want anything in return, the eventual and essential aim for them is still to achieve the love. This is not surprising since we are all human and have individual self that requires various needs and desires to be satisfied. Thus, romantic love could not be longer viewed as selfless or unconditional. Furthermore, romantic love demand equality. For those givers, they are looking for the same attitudes and emotions as responses. If they do not gain the equivalent love, they may feel tired, no longer have the energy to hold “love” and finally give up. Accordingly, Solomon gives a subtle explanation that “the egalitarianism of love assures a continuing struggle for equal shares and status, a constant tension between demands, expectations, and sacrifices” (Solomon
Some people believe that there is no such thing as “true love” they believe that love is nothing but an illusion designed by social expectations. These people believe that love ultimately turns into pain and despair. This idea in some ways is true. Love is not eternal it will come to an end one way or another, but the aspect that separates true love from illusion, is the way love ends. “True Love” is much too powerful to be destroyed by Human imperfection; it may only be destroyed by a force equal to the power of love. Diotima believed that “Love is wanting to posses the good forever” In other words love is the desire to be immortal and the only way that we are able to obtain immortality is through reproduction, and since the act of reproduction is a form of sexual love, then sexual love is in fact a vital part of “True love”. Sexual love is not eternal. This lust for pleasure will soon fade, but the part of love that is immortal, is a plutonic love. You can relate this theory to the birth of love that Diotima talks about. She says that love was born by a mortal mother and immortal father. The mother represents the sexual love, the lust for pleasure. The father represents the plutonic love that is immortal. Plutonic love is defined as a true friendship, the purest of all relationships. A true plutonic love will never die; it transcends time, space, and even death.
Love is defined as an intense feeling of deep affection. Nonetheless, love is challenging to seize in the palm of one’s hand. Love is not quantifiable, bankable, nor marketable. Every individual has a different understanding of love.
What is love? Love is a very special and meaningful word to each human being. Each human being has his/her own thoughts about love to guide himself/herself to land safely and smoothly into the kingdom of Love. Without this preconceived idea of love, people would be acting like a blind person searching for the light with thousand of obstacles in front of him.