This is my entry for the Information Finding Championship Season 02 Round 09 (run by @ifc and @apolymask) with the topic of "LOVE"!
What is Love?
Perhaps the most common thought that pops into one's head when the word "Love" is mentioned is the concept of Romantic Love. The thrill of love at first sight, the idealised notion that has been popularised by books and movies since the Elizabethan Age (as a side note, that period of Western history has a lot to answer for....).
It is the love that we are most familiar with as young adults and teenagers. The searching for that one person who is the complete fit in all things, that completes your very being... perhaps similar to the best friend or the soulmate, perhaps slightly different? The idea that compels us to do stupid things, which takes up our every thought and waking hour.
Perhaps it manifests itself in the puppy love of figures of authority, or perhaps in the unrequited secret love from a distance. Maybe it is the close friendship that blossoms into something that is much more.... with more at stake and more to lose, yet with so much more to take pleasure from!
Other Loves?
As we grow through life... we start to discover other forms of love, some abstract.... and others destructive. It could be the love of a material thing, a favourite car or belonging that is irrationally prized beyond its ability to return the affection... or the love of progress of some numbers in some ledger somewhere to brings meaning to some lives, and a perception of societal validation.
It could be the love of an animal or a pet, who is in some way able to return the love and affection... but will be forever hampered (well, some might disagree strongly with this...) by the ability to communicate and be an equal partner.
It might be the love that a parent has for a child, the sort of commitment that leads one to sacrifice parts of your own vision and time to help realise the meaning of another life. The sort of love that leads one to spend countless years sleeping on hard floors, calming tears and helping to realise dreams. However strong this love, it is still one that has an implicit heirarchy and one that will be forever separated in time... forever out of phase as one is destined to finish before the other.
My Thoughts on Love
So... after all of this rambling... what are my thoughts on what love is? Love is the thought that there will always be someone who is your companion on the unknown journey through life, the one who provides safety and contentment, knowing that they somehow, unbelievably, they accept your faults along with any positives that might otherwise be invisible to you. It is the bond with the person who helps you become the best person that you can be, who you will do anything for...
... it is the idea that at the end of a long day of work and travelling, after they have had their own personal long day of life, that there is someone who remembered you long enough to welcome you home with a much appreciated meal, left warming in the oven!
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Love is all around... all you have to do is look. The smile of a stranger leaves me loving the world we live in, the unhurried mom, taking the time to explain to her child, the love of a child - as she holds the hand of an ailing parent...
Oh, yes...
Love is all around, and sometimes, oh, so fleeting.
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Now, there is another song that I know! All the little things that you mention, it is all around us! We just have to look and be receptive to it!
Yes!! That is exactly it!
Many other languages have multiple different words for each varietion of love ❤️
That is interesting, I had no idea of that!
It is a very interesting fact that relates deeply to the loss of use in the word love as the majority people only use it as reference in English towards their life partners or family.
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Love is everywhere and love is universal. Let's spread the love and make the world a lovely place to live in.
Love this post. Full of love and just what we need in the world right now💖💖💖
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Thank you! I'm very happy you enjoyed the post! Love is really force for good in this world!
I love this. 💕
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Thanks, glad you loved it!
Just the simple things <33
Simple... and important! What is simple to one, is the world to another!
Lovely post @bengy My favorite subject ♥ I love love!!! When we truly discover love within us, we see it everywhere. The trick is sticking with that feeling of love inside... ;-)
Agreed, it is possible to see it everywhere around us if we look and are receptive! ... and having that feeling within us is really a special thing!
I've been through all the loves and the one that endures is the one that never ends
Now the trick is finding out which one that is....
When I first saw the blog title, I immediately thought of "Haddaway - What Is Love" :)
Great post and well written - would like to add that love doesn't all have to be external. If you learn to love yourself and trust that it will all be OK, then that can also be very comforting and freeing. But you can't beat the feeling you described at the end there :)
Hey you, get out of my head! :D
Now I have to work extra hard trying to come up with something else to say.... :foxyemoji:
Baby don't hurt me, don't hurt me no more ♪
singing and dancing in meuf's head
I heard someone did a Drum & Bass remix of this one but it's not in the public domain anymore. It might make a reappearance though...
Baby don't hurt me... No more!
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Well, if you can't beat em, join em.
Starts dancing too
Oh that would be pretty cool to hear. Be dancing to that one too :D
Haha well I'll see if I can fish it out and send it over to you 😉
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Cool! :D
Cool! :D
Sadly... I don't know that song (at least I don't think I do....), maybe I should check... probably something that I do know, but don't know the name of! Good point, internal "love" is a really important thing for a certain internal stability and confidence... although, I wouldn't have called it love... something else, but I haven't got the word for that at the moment...
Love the word with so many connotations.
To live is to know love, love thyself, love crypto we use the word so freely, perhaps it is a good question What is love!
Love (and hate) are really quite over-used words! They really should be quite extreme, but now they are used quite often for quite trivial things...
Love is All you need dear ohh and good music 😉💃
Haha... now that is a song that I know!
I didnt know but glad ! Music makes the world go round
Big subject for such a small word, so many levels and interpretations to "love". It depends on your realizations.
Definitely, small word... so many different ideas about what it means!
When you started feeling to be one then that is love....
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... as close to one that two separate minds can be! But yes, I agree... that is definitely love!
baby dont hurt me, dont hurt me, no more
(yeah i started singing just as i read the title)
#powerhousecreatives
Haha... it's so funny how many people replied with song lyrics!
Exactly! I completely agree, and...
via GIPHY
Thanks for the cute gif!
We are supposed to be beings of love and my favorite is to believe in the unseen. For it's love that is returned!
You certainly have a great post here my friend!
Blessings!
Thanks! Love returned is truly a wonderful thing!
This makes me think of the musings from Moulin Rouge (one of the best movies of all time) when they quote a whole bunch of lyrics on what love is. Fun post!
#powerhousecreatives
I don't remember that scene! I will have to rewatch it... although, Nicole Kidman does bug me....
It's such a good movie, despite her. I love musicals though, so I might be a bit biased.
Love it😁💞 #powerhousecreatives
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Thanks, glad you loved it!
Agreed. I feel like that has been the case or a major theme in my life as well. Though as I've aged more I realize that love is very broad and I am even open minded to the spiritual belief that "everything" is love in a sense, or at least that it has it's roots in love.
Hmm.. Yeah I think maybe there's something to that. However.. Then the love of a child I think might even be more powerful cause it seems like from what I've heard losing a child is the most difficult?
Indeed.. There's many kinds of love! Some which seem a bit counter intuitive as well.. Like people who love pain and love being controlled or abused.. BDSM for example, some of that is really interesting to think about.. Not sure I understand it but I did meet a woman who was into that kind of stuff once and she was a super intelligent person so it was really fascinating to talk to her and to try to get into the philosophy and understanding of such kinds of things..
That's pretty deep.. And I hope to experience that kind of love some day to the point I sacrifice so much for someone with no expectation of anything in return in such manner. Though just to be a little nitpicky and find the exception to the rule, sometimes parents and children do go at the same time, in like car accidents or plane crashes or things like that.
Well said. :) I was just talking about this with someone recently I forget who.. But I think it's that quality of accepting someone as they are, flaws and all and still being there for them regardless which I think is one of the most powerful things in life and that is "true" love in my opinion.
Great entry as usual my friend. :) Was very inspiring and gave me some things to think about. I "loved" it. <3
Ha, Yes... Sometimes parents and child go at the same time... However, even then, they are seperated in time in their experiences of life!
This was a great topic choice! It is like trying to define the undefinable. A thing that we all recognise, but somehow, mere words are inadequate to really convey the real thing... Only allusions...
That's a good point in that we are separated in time and experiences in life with our parents, if we're lucky enough to be in their lives as some are not.
And glad you enjoyed the topic! I think it was a good one as well. :) I also have another good one coming up soon I'm excited about! And yeah.. I've found words are often inadequate, but we do our best! Cheers friend.
Love is so many things! I really liked how you closed this post:
That is truly beautiful. Thank you for the lovely reflections on love!
Thank you.. It really is such a difficult thing to put into words... It is a concept we are know, but can't adequately describe...
But it’s fun to try! 😁
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Very nice @bengy. I really enjoy this subject, because it is neat to see and hear others opinions. My personal thoughts are there are so many aspects to love each has its own beauty and meaning.
Agreed, it is such a huge topic and all of do see our value differently the different aspects of it! Hard to even put into words..
@bengy,
Interesting that Love seems to get simpler as one gets older while everything else seems to get more complex. :-)
Very well written article, Bengy.
A thought: In your article you mentioned:
A mutual indebtedness that both intuitively understand can never be fully repaid. Indebtedness, and reciprocity, is a potent drive amongst human beings:
From The Cremation of Sam McGee, Robert Service https://www.poets.org/poetsorg/poem/cremation-sam-mcgee
Quill
Yes, it does seem to get simpler... There are certain things that just get so much clearer without the over expectations of an earlier age in life!
Beautiful and very thoughtful poem, it does speak to me!
Ah! How heart warming!
Yes, it's nice to be able explore such a topic... Even if only briefly!
You are bang on with your explanation and variations. I can't say more to what you have written here and what has been written in your comments. I would just be repeating.
Great post!
Thanks! Glad the post spoke to you!
I thought you going to go on a rendition of The Four Loves by C.S. Lewis. If you haven't read that, it's one of the best books on love I've ever read. He talks about the four Greek words for love and discusses how they play out in our lives. I highly recommend it.
I don't know the book! Thanks for the recommendation!
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