What is Love?

What is

?

Love is - the feeling which animates a person who is genuinely fond of someone or something… Thesaurus

Love is - unselfish loyal and benevolent concern for the good of another: as (1): the fatherly concern of God for humankind (2): brotherly concern for others - Merriam-Webster.

Strong affection for another arising out of kinship or personal ties ‹maternal ~ for a child› (2): attraction based on sexual desire: affection and tenderness felt by lovers (3): affection based on admiration, benevolence, or common interests.

All of these describe love as feelings! But Love is more than that!

            The Greek language has many different terms for love among which are: agape solely for God kind, Philadelphia for love of brother, Philostorgos for the love of one’s parents, Philoteknos differentiate that of the love for one’s children, Philia is love of friends/friendship, phileo for emotional or affectionate love, and Eros for sexual one etc.

            Human feelings depend largely on a lot of variables which are not reliable at all. Therefore, this kind of view of love make love to be something that varied in times and seasons! Love as we know it now is based on emotions and feelings which make it something that cannot be guaranteed or something that its permanence possibility is zero. The high rate of divorce among the married couples and disastrous heartbreak among the singles is the real statistics that is needed for the authenticity of this claim.

            Love is a major ingredient of any successful relationship. But tell me that relationship that is not beset with lack of love, doubt and distrust or uncertainty, if our feelings are right, why then all these? I observe that the actual meaning of what love is, which is missing, or which its substance had been greatly eroded is the main problem.

What then is LOVE?

This is an example of what love has come to mean!

            Love therefore, is a sacrificial action for another who does not deserve it. Love is not an emotion or a feeling but an action. It has become the tradition of this generation to take love as give ‘n’ take, and so people tend not to love when there is nothing for them to gain in the relationship. But as this is built on emotions and assumptions or GREAT EXPECTATIONS, which as all know is not permanent, their love tend to shift gear.

            Love in its true and real meaning is a deliberate commitment of one’s will to do and seek the good of someone without any cogent thing done or expected in return. This include but is not limited to material or financial gifts, but what must be the known is that something must be forgone in order to satisfy the other. As it is popularly said, you can give without loving, but you can’t love without giving! Grace is unmerited favour, so also is love unmerited and undemanded sacrificial actions.

            Let me close with this, emotions and feelings can accompany love, this is not out of place because you can not consistently think and act about something, without developing a corresponding feeling toward it, either good or bad. But the feeling is not there at the beginning, it just joins along the way and so it is not the BASES of the action that follows. 

Note: our feelings are a servant of our MIND, what your mind ruminate about, you will surely develop a kind of feelings for corresponding to your thoughts!

Your views are most welcome...