Do you believe that love exists?

[Darth_Ole]

I've been wondering. And I don't mean the "love-at-first-sight" kinda thing... I mean when a human being really does have a deep affection for another one. I read an essay Orwell wrote about the fact that there is no such thing because essentially doesn't that mean that we love some people more than others?

I'd like to think that there is, especially when I think that this species is also a very vile, cunning one, which tortures and murders its own systematically.

Your thoughts?

[acmavm]

1. Yes, I most certainly do. Just like hate exists, so does love.

.

[NightTrain]

2. For other people, yes. For me, I'm not so sure.

Best I can tell ya. :shrug:

[fluffernutter]

3. yes, i totally believe in love.

[sam sarrha]

4. actually ..Love isnt related to the emotions, that creates attachment.

read some Dalai Lama books... Pema Chodron...

[mairceridwen]

9. yeah.

yeah.

[Amaya]

5. Absolutely

[GRLMGC]

6. I'd like to think so

Maybe I'll find out one day.

[Frumious B]

7. David Lee Roth once sang...

"The question is not 'Does love exist?', but when she leaves where she goes?"

Smart fellah, that Dave.

[mairceridwen]

8. of course...

Have you seen what some parents will do for their children? my god.

Any being capable of such deep dehumanization (torture and murder) is simultaneously capable of deep affection...not necessarily the same individual. that's not to say that without torture we wouldn't know love or crap like that blah blah blah...just that the emotional and psychological capacities are equal.

plus, think about how much lost love can hurt. anything that cuts that deep has to be real.


there are different kinds of love. of course I love my partner more than my professors. so what? we're supposed to love people more and in different ways. diversity. we are supposed to dislike and even loathe people. love doesn't have to be warm. it can be accepting, hopeful, optimistic of others.

you can dislike someone and respect their humanity.


it's all very complicated and caught up in all kinds of psychological and ethical questions.

there is love as a feeling and love as an action

I am not going to expound or defend any of these on a logical-philosophical leve.

the point is that i do think it's very real

[mmonk]

10. If love doesn't exist

I've been wasting alot of time.

[NEOBuckeye]

11. I know love exists

Wish I could say that I've had better fortune with it. But I have no doubt that it does indeed exist.

[bif]

12. I used to think so

When I got married.Now I'm not quite sure..Let me think about it for a while.

[sir_captain]

13. Yes, there is

And it's a wondrous, heartbreaking, humbling experience.

[knowbody0]

14. for myself,

i'd always believed i loved and was loved, until i met my first born child. unconditional for me.
when compared to that between man and woman, it just is not equal for me.

[mairceridwen]

17. that's what they say

[ScreamingMeemie]

15. Everytime I walk by MrG I must touch him, or kiss him, because the

love is that strong. When I see my kids, I just want to gather them up and hug them so tight...my love is that strong. Yes, I believe in love. :hi:

[Digit]

16. I have seen it happen for others and it is heartwarming.

My mother fell in love again when she was in her 50's. Her boyfriend had been her boss for 27 years. It was not until his wife passed away that they came together, although my mother refused his advances for almost a year. Their relationship developed into something so
warm and tender, it brings tears to my eyes to remember. She had never been so happy in her life. He doted on her and attended to her every need. I had known this man almost all my life and I considered him a second father. I loved him dearly.
They have both passed away since then.
For me, love has been elusive so far, so I no longer look.
I loved my adolescent crush, and that was it.
That was 8th grade.
I am now in my early 50's, and get along fine.
Love is great when it happens.

[Ellen Forradalom]

18. Yes, certainly

Sex, on the other hand, I'm not so sure about. I recall having some once, but it might've been a dream.

[azoth]

19. Of course we love some people more than we love others.

I don't get why the fact that an emotion can exist in degrees would somehow be enough to deny its existence entirely.

Absolutely love exists. Absolutely.

[Left Is Write]

24. I don't really get that either.

[the Princess]

20. Yes I do think it exists

But I also think we mix up other emotions with love. And I think some people use love to get what they want.

*sigh*

I'm feeling very cynical tonite. Truth be told except for my hubby - I don't think love exists. I think most people suck.

[Ivan Sputnik]

21. I think so

but it depends on your definition, I suppose. True love has to be unconditional.

"Is there no great love, only tenderness?" --Sylvia Plath

[WCGreen]

22. The stronger the love

the greater the willingness to sacrifice and endure....

Most of what people think is love is really infactuation or great sex...

Love for the long haul is not based on either of those two but on a deep and enduring affection that sees you thorugh the hard times as well as the good....

Life is a journey that is made richer by true love.....

[Left Is Write]

23. Yes.

What I feel for my parents, my siblings, my husband, and my children couldn't be described as anything but love.

[bettyellen]

25. It does, but it ain't easy... A big myth is that it's effortless...

well there are lot of myths, lots of bullshit we see in chick flicks, too.
great book "A Natural History of Love" Diane Ackerman. Some really interesting essays.

[Left Is Write]

27. Loving my children is as effortless as it gets.

I will agree with you that romantic love can take more effort.

[bettyellen]

29. i understand that's most often the case with kids.

i was talking about romantic love, that's where the myths come in to play. although, some mom's they don't feel it... and i have certainly met quite a few whose love was quite conditional.

[tjdee]

26. It is the most wonderful thing we do as people.

And there are so many different kinds. Love for one's children, love for family, love for friends, erotic love, love for one's work...

Given the nature of man, love is honestly a miracle.

[auntAgonist]

28. sometimes I don't really know what love is ....

[masaka___]

30. Yes

...because I've felt it.

[SarahB]

31. Yes.

For many years, though, love as in the form of Eros, was not something I believed in. The universe has ways of opening of the eyes of those of us, who, despite our best efforts at trying to suppress these feelings within ourselves, to some of the beautiful things that exist on this emotional realm.

[2bfree]

32. Yes............

I have been deeply in love for almost 24 years now.

[foreigncorrespondent]

33. Absolutely!

read an essay Orwell wrote about the fact that there is no such thing because essentially doesn't that mean that we love some people more than others?

Well we should love our partner/spouse/husband/wife/SO, etc more and in a much different way to how we love our parents/children/friends/cousins, etc.

Do you believe that love exists?

Absolutely I do. I spent 15 years of my life with a guy and I thought I was in love with him. It is only now I come to realize that I wasn't actually in love with him, rather I loved him, but more as a friend than anything.

The love Sapphocrat and I share truly is remarkable. I never thought I could feel this way about any person on earth, then she walked into my life.

When we are together whether we state it or not people know we are a couple and we are very much in love, because no matter how hard we try we simply cannot hide it.

I remember my first Christmas with Sapph in the U.S. Christmas eve we had spent with her mother and a couple of Sapphs and her mothers friends. These friends are another lesbian couple, so I really relaxed around them (face it, you know what is like to meet people for the first time in your partners life, that truly means a lot to your partner? One usually is a bag of nerves) Christmas day though we were spending with a long time friend of Sapphs and her mother. This lady is elderly, plus she hails from the U.K. so I kept picturing someone like the queen (LOL) and was a real bag of nerves.

We never actually told this lady we were a couple. And the whole time I had to sit there and listen to her bag certain parts of American policy (when Sapph wasn't in ear shot, of course), plus, bag us bad homosexuals. Mind you I am sitting there with a gay pride flag lapel pin a dear friend had given to me, on my jacket lapel while all this was going on. I was a good little Aussie though and just bit my tongue, for the sake of not wanting to embarrass Sapph and her mum.

By the end of that night, when she left, I am sure she knew Sapph and I were a couple.

Not once did I hold Sapphs hand, even under the table. Not once did I call her "baby" or "honey" as I usually do. Not once did I wink at her, or give her a loving look. But when two people are in a room and those two people are just so totally in love with one another there really is a chemistry which just fills a room. Sapph and I have had that magical chemistry from the first moment we met, and that chemistry is a total giveaway of us being a couple. It is just something no matter how hard you try, you cannot hide it.

Yes I believe in love, and I also happen to believe in love at first sight. :)

[La Lioness Priyanka]

34. i dont believe you can have true love at first sight

but love does exist

[eauclaireliberal]

35. RE: "Do you believe that love exists?"

Depends on what you believe.

Sternberg's Triangular Theory of Love-components of Passion, Intimacy and commitment.

a. Passion-physical attraction, arousal and sexual behavior in a relationship

b. Intimacy-the feeling of closeness that occurs in a love relationship

c. Commitment-making a commitment to maintain the relationship despite the costs

[dr.strangelove]

36. I feel it every day

I lucked out when I met my wife. I never saw it coming. I won't bore people with the details of our meeting, but I love this woman. I don't know how to explain love, its just something I didn;t expect to ever know, and I think I am lucky to feel it. I know many friends who don't know love, and I hope all of them find it soon.

Love is real. I think you are right that we love some more than others. I love my wife before all others, even myself.

[tjdee]

38. Ooh, can you bore me with the story?

I love hearing how people met their wives/husbands/true loves....

[arcane1]

37. hells YES it does!!!!!

:loveya:

[redqueen]

39. Oh, who the hell knows?

Somedays I think yes, and some days I think no.

So I guess that's a firm maybe.

[donheld]

40. Down With Love

Down with love the flowers and rice and shoes
Down with love the root of all midnight blues
Down with things that give you that well-known pain
Take that moon wrap it in cellophane

Down with love let's liquidate all its friends
Moon and June and roses and rainbow's ends
Down with songs that moan about night and day
Down with love yes take it away, away

Away
Far away
Give it back to the birds and bees and the Viennese

Down with eyes romantic and stupid
Down with sighs and down with cupid
Brother let's stuff that dove
Down with love

Down with love let's liquidate all its friends
The moons the Junes the roses and rainbow's ends
Down with songs that moan about night and day
Down with love yes take it away, away

Far away
So very, very far away
Give it back to the birds and the bees and especially the Viennese

Down with eyes romantic and stupid
Down with sighs and down with cupid
Brother let's stuff that dove
Down with love

Lyrics by E.Y. Harburg