Porscha - We do like you and as far as possible love you, sweetie but do you stay up nights thinking of these questions?
Love is something you can't disect. As a child I believed my mother loved me. Thinking back and realizing now that my father had more "love" for me but he never expressed it openly. He did tell me he was proud of me....I guess that was a stretch for him. I thought I loved my first wife....."it was all in my head" as the saying goes. I tried to live a fantasy but finally it didn't work any more. I found my soul mate late in life. Are we in love - yes. Do we love each other - yes. That's about all I can offer.
hugs
Gracie

I understand the feeling, the emotional intensity of it, but I don't know the reality. How would you define it? Have you experienced it? Is it psychological " that great combining force that seeks to join all parts together. The immortal flow of energy that nourishes, extends and preserves." Or is it, as Freud suggested, the totality of existence, of life, combined with the aggressive death instinct. Or is it simply neurological, it has been shown that our brains react differently when we are in love ( irrationally, I think they call it ). It may just be a chemical reaction. I know it is a term used far too liberally. It shouldn't be confused with physical attraction or sexual desire. I have sex, I'm not a nun ( there's a thought ) but love has never been its impulse. Though sex without love, satisfying in its own right, is strangely joyless, and I am no more inclined to say I love them than I am to thank them for it. Or are we forced to love? Haven't we all loved the partners we've had? Of course not, but what lengths we go to just to convince ourselves that we do. To prove the veracity of our own lies. If love is the most powerful all defining emotion then how can we truly be in love on numerous occassions. How can you love one and a week later love another. If it is so mercurial then its power is diminished to little more than a fleeting fancy; and its commonality of use in everyday parlance is justified. But what's your experience? I can only speak of my own. Has love enhanced your life or left you bereft. Is it as much a mystery to you as it is to me. Does it exist or is it just another myth, just another desire we wish to be true but in our hearts we know is not. Have your say, don't allow my cynicism to go unchallenged.

" To thee the immortal, to thee the ephemeral yields:
Thou maddenest them that possess thee; thou turnest astray.
The souls of the just, to oppress them, out of the way;
Thou has kindled amongst us pride, and the quarrel of kin;
Thou art lord, by the eyes of a bride, and the love-light therein.
Thou silliest assessor with Right; her kingdom is thine,
Who sports with invincible might, Aphrodite divine.

Sophocles: The Power of Love

I can honestly say I have been in love, and it is a wonderful feeling, fraught as it is with a mix of other emotions. The hollow, sickening feeling in your stomach when you believe the one you love has been lost to you. I would say it is easy to fall in love but much harder to keep that love going. I don't mean that cynically, I just feel the two are quite separate and require a different approach. A parents love for a child is something else altogether and is a very powerful emotion, far stronger than a love for a partner.

However, like all emotions, it can be dealt with and overcome so 'yes' you can love someone one week but a year later feel nothing for them. (Just ask anyone who has been through a divorce)!!

Love comes on many levels too, the love for a friend, a partner, a child or a sibling are each very different but do share some common traits too such as a need to care for, support and keep them safe from harm.

Do I understand love? No, but I recognise it and it is an emotion that has enriched my life and one that I am glad to have found.

Nikki

You hit the nail on the head there eilieen. Love comes in many forms some good & Some bad but believe me when that feeling hits you for the first time you WILL know about it. Me personally, i found true love in the strangest of places 2 yrs ago.......right here on TW & i truly have never been happier.



Lol xxxxxxxxxxx
Anna-Marie

Like Nikki says it's different things for different people. That questions as old as love itself.
If anyone had the perfect answer, it would only fit them.
But I will say it's the strongest emotion. A scary one to, people will willingly die for it, or kill.
I don't know what it is but I like it when I feel it.

Love is something that, when you have the object of your love, there is no question that you are in love.
Love is something that, when you have lost the object of your love, the emptiness inside you can never be filled by something else...not even a new love....but you can have a second emptiness alongside the first.