What is love?
Many people in different countries and epochs have tried to define what love is. I want to make my own humble definition too.
Love is, in essence, “to feel affection for someone or something”. We can love our pet, or our parents, or our boyfriend/girlfriend, or our violin :). Now, the detail is that love has many variants.
For example, a mother loves her child because that’s written in biological terms. A good mother with a big heart will keep loving her child no matter what he/she does, no matter how many years pass.
And there is also the love you feel because someone is nice to you. If the policeman rescued you from nearly being raped, then you will probably “feel affection” for that guy. Or if God saved you with a miracle from being killed by a bullet, you will “feel affection” for him too. Or if a boy gave you two presents: a house and a car, you will probably “love” him too. Or if a girl gave you a kiss, and no one had done something like that ever, then you are very likely to “fall in love with her”.
However, unconditional love is… Unconditional; it’s nice, but you didn’t do anything to get it; it will never fill you completely. And love arisen from a gift or an action that ended up giving you a pleasure of some kind is nice too… But it will probably weaken and is doomed to oblivion, because it is, after all, focused on you. The really valuable love is not selfish.
Now let’s take a look at Leonardo Da Vinci’s opinion on the subject (by the way, although I had my own ideas about love, when I read Da Vinci’s thoughts I said to myself “Well, if Da Vinci got to the same conclusion I did, I don’t think I’m wrong”; so I wrote this post):
“Love for an object, whichever it is, is a result of knowledge”
So, love shouldn’t be blind, because knowledge cannot be obtained by the blind (metaphorically speaking).
Talking about God:
“…if you love him for the things you expect from him, and not for his sovereign virtue, then you mimic the dog that waves his tail and jumps praising to the one who is going to throw him a bone…”
But, of course, we can extrapolate that phrase to love in general, not only God.
That’s the love I value the most: the love one feels for something or someone without expecting nothing in exchange. “To love for what it/he/she is”. Love grown from this seed has the promise of endurance because it feeds from essences, seldom-changed things. It’s not difficult to have this kind of love: everyone (and everything) has qualities that can be considered beautiful; if you find those qualities and admire them, involuntarily or at will, then you can love them.
We could mention other “loves”, but I don’t want to extend this too much.
So, finally, there is my favorite: “true love”. That love has a lot of everything. There is destiny involved (union of souls). There is love for what she is and for what he is (admiration). There is desire to give presents and to take actions to make the other feel pleasure of some kind (in order to demonstrate love, not to expect something in return). There is a sharing of qualities that complement each other (yin and yang). There are feelings flowing in both directions and disposition to sacrifice oneself for the other (the synchronization of hearts, the pact of two). There is comprehension and an adequate canalization of thoughts in both sides (synchronization of minds). There is a desire to touch the other person and get inside the other and/or have the other inside you (attraction of bodies). There is a gazing in the same direction (from Antoine de Saint-Exupéry). And there is a sensation of being made with the same essence (to have things in common).
I want to finish with a few phrases:
A house built with stone lives longer than a house made with wood.
The things we get for our own merits are more valued than those that “fall from heaven” or that are given to us.
The light of the Stars is more beautiful than the light of the Sun because its shadow doesn’t change over time.
People prefer to love someone who loves back.
Learn to give to others and you will learn to love.
Love is, in essence, “to feel affection for someone or something”. We can love our pet, or our parents, or our boyfriend/girlfriend, or our violin :). Now, the detail is that love has many variants.
For example, a mother loves her child because that’s written in biological terms. A good mother with a big heart will keep loving her child no matter what he/she does, no matter how many years pass.
And there is also the love you feel because someone is nice to you. If the policeman rescued you from nearly being raped, then you will probably “feel affection” for that guy. Or if God saved you with a miracle from being killed by a bullet, you will “feel affection” for him too. Or if a boy gave you two presents: a house and a car, you will probably “love” him too. Or if a girl gave you a kiss, and no one had done something like that ever, then you are very likely to “fall in love with her”.
However, unconditional love is… Unconditional; it’s nice, but you didn’t do anything to get it; it will never fill you completely. And love arisen from a gift or an action that ended up giving you a pleasure of some kind is nice too… But it will probably weaken and is doomed to oblivion, because it is, after all, focused on you. The really valuable love is not selfish.
Now let’s take a look at Leonardo Da Vinci’s opinion on the subject (by the way, although I had my own ideas about love, when I read Da Vinci’s thoughts I said to myself “Well, if Da Vinci got to the same conclusion I did, I don’t think I’m wrong”; so I wrote this post):
“Love for an object, whichever it is, is a result of knowledge”
So, love shouldn’t be blind, because knowledge cannot be obtained by the blind (metaphorically speaking).
Talking about God:
“…if you love him for the things you expect from him, and not for his sovereign virtue, then you mimic the dog that waves his tail and jumps praising to the one who is going to throw him a bone…”
But, of course, we can extrapolate that phrase to love in general, not only God.
That’s the love I value the most: the love one feels for something or someone without expecting nothing in exchange. “To love for what it/he/she is”. Love grown from this seed has the promise of endurance because it feeds from essences, seldom-changed things. It’s not difficult to have this kind of love: everyone (and everything) has qualities that can be considered beautiful; if you find those qualities and admire them, involuntarily or at will, then you can love them.
We could mention other “loves”, but I don’t want to extend this too much.
So, finally, there is my favorite: “true love”. That love has a lot of everything. There is destiny involved (union of souls). There is love for what she is and for what he is (admiration). There is desire to give presents and to take actions to make the other feel pleasure of some kind (in order to demonstrate love, not to expect something in return). There is a sharing of qualities that complement each other (yin and yang). There are feelings flowing in both directions and disposition to sacrifice oneself for the other (the synchronization of hearts, the pact of two). There is comprehension and an adequate canalization of thoughts in both sides (synchronization of minds). There is a desire to touch the other person and get inside the other and/or have the other inside you (attraction of bodies). There is a gazing in the same direction (from Antoine de Saint-Exupéry). And there is a sensation of being made with the same essence (to have things in common).
I want to finish with a few phrases:
A house built with stone lives longer than a house made with wood.
The things we get for our own merits are more valued than those that “fall from heaven” or that are given to us.
The light of the Stars is more beautiful than the light of the Sun because its shadow doesn’t change over time.
People prefer to love someone who loves back.
Learn to give to others and you will learn to love.