What do you think when coming to think ...
... about love.
Yes!
Right now (!) I am determined to ask my readers 1,ooo questions.
Please, feel free. Write your thoughts without fltres.
Be aware of that this very first questions might be (one of) the most difficult. :)
For a starving child in Ethiopia I would imagine the first thing to come to mind (had they ever heard of it) would be Millay's "Love is not all; it is not meat nor drink..."
ReplyDeleteThen too it seems to be a highly misused word in blogland and daily life as in 'Oh I love this!' and 'I love that!'
On the other hand are there words adequate enough to actually explain how one feels if one is 'in love'?
Thought-provoking post Sean.
Humble opinion: (and I might add other words, as time goes by...)
ReplyDeleteLove is seldom met and practised in all its glory. But all that matters is that one is willing to try, in personal and general situations.
The main obstacles are blindness for other people's needs, and lack of forgiveness for self, and others.
I think about friendships they always mean love.
ReplyDeleteI believe there are many kinds of love but there are 2 kinds that I would like to describe in detail.
ReplyDeleteFist one is what I call "hormonal love", which means love in the form of sexual lust... which doesn't last very long, however it is intense and has a fantastic high. The bad thing is, the "down" is pretty bad... one comes down crushing when it's over.
The other kind of love is slow and steady. For many it is "true love". This type of love takes time nurturing and nourishing. It is the kind of love one needs to work on. Yes, it is more time consuming and the results can be seen over time but it is well worth it at the end.
Because when one reaches the level of total: Trust, reliability, security, giving without expecting anything in return, receiving and giving support at all times no matter what the end result will be is what I call long lasting love.
I think when one is young and hormonal, the first kind I described is wonderful and exciting. One needs hormonal love. One needs lust and pure tension between two human beings when life seems soooo stretched out and long.... BUT when one comes to my age (42 next month), there is nothing more wonderful and fulfilling then the second kind of love I have described.
I can honestly say, my husband and I have after years of trying to understand and decipher each other have finally reached the second level with much ease...
There is also love of God, love towards our children, love towards our friends, relatives and love that we feel towards our pets... all different but beautiful....
What would life be without love.... I say.... Long Live LOVE!...
Waw.... that was a lot nonsense... forgive me Sean.... you did say "free fall"... :)
Love is the thing that sustains us through life's journey and its tribulations.
ReplyDeleteIt's like the sun in whose warmth we bask and it makes us a better person as we endeavour to be worthy of it.
But there are so many different kinds of love, equally important in their own ways, as Nevin said.
May each of us experience all of them at sometime in our lives.
Love? It varies.. Right now it's the fluffy ginger and white beastie on my lap distracting me from the keyboard,,, and he's been fed!
ReplyDeleteOn a different note, did you see that Kadyrov is suing Memorial for defamation!!!
Quasi a prologue :)
ReplyDeleteEven while writing this I am not sure.
You see, I was determined :) to title my next post:
Just a Question 02-1000
and write:
Spontaneous ideas sometimes prove to be good. And sometimes they are just silly.
Thus, instead of making sure that within I could easily amount another 1,000 post, I ask you to ask the next 999 questions yourself.
Hm. And then I read your thoughts.
And now I am not sure if my first question was my last.
Anyway ...
Janice,
Reading your first passage reminded me of what an old woman in rural China said when being asked what she thought about the Tiananmen Square massacre: "You can't eat democracy."
As for your second paragraph: Yes!!
As for your third: No!
To cut it short: I do not love your comment, but I like it. :)
Claudia,
if I do understand you correctly, only those who do love themselves are able to love (a few) others. Yes.
CherryPie,
hm ... agreed. I have two male friends I love.
:) Need I say I do not adore them?
In other words: Loving a friend is not the same as loving someone you'd love to accompany you on an expedition to Venus.
Nevin,
to begin with your ending: :)
By writing Trust, reliability, security, giving without expecting anything in return, receiving and giving support at all times no matter what the end result will be is what I call long lasting love you say that love is more than but one word.
I / we could add patience, empathy, responsibility, curiosity, tender wildness, wild tenderness, joy, forgiveness etc. etc.
yes! That's - in one word - love.
Well, unless I am wrong. :)
jmb,
what shall I say? You summarised it beautifully. Thanks a lot, and keep enjoying the time you are spending with those you ... love.
Jams,
ReplyDeletesorry. You commented while I was just trying to reply.
Yes, my friend, I noticed that. Is there a way to support Memorial?.
And to support those who say Stalin was / Kadyrov is a bastard?
Well, we won't find a recipe against historical misrepresentation, will we?
Sticking to the context of this post: I'd love to ...
In other words: I agree there are many kinds of love :-)
ReplyDeleteCherryPie,
ReplyDeleteI knew we'd not be far apart. :)
Love comes in many forms and we don't always recognise it. As I get older I am more appreciative of the love of friends. And on those occasions when I "all alone beweep my outcast state" I cuddle my doggie and remind myself that all the love in the world is in my arms. When my mother was dying from a terrible, dementia-related illness, I remembered that "love is not love which alters when it alteration finds".
ReplyDeleteI'm still musing on this one, Sean. (And there'll be 999 more questions after this? My poor brain!)
ReplyDeleteAs Cherrypie said, there are many kinds of love. There's the passionate love, the love that makes up the bond of friendship, and I think most importantly, which is oftentimes lacking and all need/want, is unconditional love.
ReplyDeleteWelshcakes,
ReplyDeleteThank you for sharing your thoughts. My mother suffered from Alzheimer (and suffering, too, certainly were all witnessing her mental prostation), which makes it easy for me to understand and agree to your very last sequence.
As for cuddling: Again (I think) I do understand what you mean.
Still, I doubt that cuddling with a cat / a dog / a horse embodies the same kind of love, as does cuddling with (in my case) a woman.
Isn't the beloved animal but a substitute?
As said, just a question.
And herewith I come to your beginning. Yes! Love comes in many forms and we don't always recognise it..
A wonderful definition.
D.E.,
in two millennia I have now (and then) been musing about this phenomenon, and like Hawking & Co. did not find the TOE (theory of everything) did not find the ultimative love-formula. So, don't worry; go on musing.
Re the 999 question: As mentioned above, I might leave it to my readers to choose and ask those questions themselves.
We shall see.
Mylady (HGF?),
welcome to Omnium, and thank you, especially for mentioning a / the very rare kind of love - the unconditioned.
It reminds me of the following:
'not of I love you because I need you,
but of I need you because I love you'.
Beautiful, hm?
And still, no example for unconditioned love.
So, what is unconditioned love? Is it possible at all?
After all, unconditioned love has (to have) roots, no?
And can anything that has roots be unconditioned? :)
Hm, questions ... questions ... :)
Hello Sean,
ReplyDelete'not of I love you because I need you,
but of I need you because I love you'.
yes, quite beautiful! :)
Perhaps the closest examples to unconditional love that come to mind...a mother's love for her child; and, a person who would lay their life down to save another.
Unexplainable, really, yet a force truly there.
When someone loves you, the way they say your name is different. You know that your name is safe in their mouth; that's the sound of Love if I'm not mistaken.)
ReplyDeletekindest
hans
@Hans (IM)
ReplyDeleteDidn't detect that from my new lover's mouth. May be i have the wrong antenna?
But it sounds interesting anyway.
Bertus
Sean - What you understood is only partly what I meant. It's my fault for reducing my comment to 6 lines instead of the usual 50.:))) Just count yourself blessed that it wasn't 200 lines...
ReplyDeleteThe subject of love is very difficult but can be also very inspiring. Either you know it all, or you know nothing.:)
Sean,
ReplyDeleteDealing with the small questions as always I see :)
How can one answer this in a sentence? Nonsense. It takes a person's lifetime or a very big thesis... hmmm...
In truth I am indeed intending to write my philosophy phd on the subject of love, so simply ask again in around 5 years and I'll now doubt have THE answer! ha ha!
@ Claudia
Hen oida hoti ouden oida
:-D
peace, love, etc.
His Girl Friday,
ReplyDeletegood examples.
As for the second: Sometimes I would think of (beloved) persons in fatal situations - fire, water, rapists etc.
Would I try to save them knowing that there's no chance to save their lives.
Not sure.
I think the answer can only be given in the very seconds it happens.
Hm, (unconditioned) love can also be to scream "Run away, as fast as you can", when you see there is no chance to help / save your life.
And what, if a beloved person asks me to help her/him dying?
If I would refuse / just couldn't do it - could one think I do not love deep enough / unconditioned?
Questions ... questions ...
Hans,
harbinger of a lighter note. :)
Yes. Sometimes it is that easy.
Now would some contemporaries choose strange (pet)names for their one and only - and not hesitate to do so loudly in public.
In such moments I wish they would have kept it safe in their mouth until ... :)
Bertus,
I leave the answer to Hans ...
Claudia,
who am I not to obey? Thus: I do feel blessed. :)
As can be seen alone from the various aspects mentioned above, it's a wide field indeed.
As for your latest remark: Hm, does know nothing who humbly presumes to not know everything?
It might keep curious ... :)
Ha, Chris,
ReplyDeletesometimes I was innerly shouting by varying Wellington "I wish it were night, and my philosopher came!" :)
As (mostly) you are right, my friend.
And yes! Love is certainly the subject for a joyous (!) life long learning.
So, keeping going. I am looking forward to welcome you in Seanhenge, us reading, discussing and (!) celebrating your phd thesis.
@ god-free-morals
ReplyDeleteNo wonder he was ready to die!
Not one illusion left. I'm not there yet...:-D
Nice to hear your voice.:)
@qBertus, inspired by Neelte Maria Min; only for who I love I want to be named...(free translated)
ReplyDelete@ Hans (IM)
ReplyDeleteAh, Hans, great! But then we shouldn't deny this great poem by Neeltje Maria Min to this international bunch. Dutch as it is:
Mijn moeder is mijn naam vergeten
Mijn moeder is mijn naam vergeten.
Mijn kind weet nog niet hoe ik heet.
Hoe moet ik mij geborgen weten?
Noem mij, bevestig mijn bestaan,
laat mijn naam zijn als een keten.
Noem mij, noem mij, spreek mij aan,
o, noem mij bij mijn diepste naam.
Voor wie ik liefheb, wil ik heten.
(My mother has forgotten my name./My child doesn't yet know my name./How should i feel safe and comforted?//Call me, confirm my being,/let my name be like a chain./Call me, call me, speak to me,/oh, call me by my deepest name.//To whom i love, i want to have a name.)
This gives quite a different perspective to love Hans! (And something i didn't discuss with my new lover indeed.)
Bertus
Bertus,
ReplyDeletein the name of this international bunch: Dank je wel for the poem - for the original Dutch version, and for making the effort to translate it.
Bertus - It's such a deeply moving poem. Merci!
ReplyDelete@Sean, Claudia,
ReplyDeleteThanks to Hans who had the brainwave.
Bertus
you dont think about love, you feel it.
ReplyDeleteJedilost,
ReplyDeleteTam! Exactly what the Turkish seanachie Superhero would say.
P.S.
I am glad to see that a certain Jedi is not lost.
nope, im around. thanks for the kind comment.
ReplyDeleteHi!Jedilost- Nice to hear your voice. I miss Superhero....
ReplyDeletehello Claudia. havent you started ur own blog yet? the worls should be deprived of your ezperiences.
ReplyDeleteDear SH,
ReplyDeleteNope! No blog yet...Maybe when you return. All the best. Always!
sorry for the typo. it is supposed to be: the world should not be deprived from your experiences.
ReplyDelete@ Jedilost - Thank you for your appreciation and encouragement.:) I'm also grateful to Omnium, and other blogs, who put up with my (sometimes) lengthy comments.
ReplyDeleteMay all these be the proof of
ReplyDeleteLove=Undefineble??
:)
No doubt, you gave a smile to all of us; some happily, some nostalgic
Dear reader,
ReplyDelete- Okur means reader, doesn't it? :) -,
welcome to Omnium, and thanks for your kind words.
Well, it seems you are getting pretty close to the essential inherent interior essence which is hidden in the root of the kernel of everything, and thus also within love. :)
:)
ReplyDeleteProbably the second question could be "THE Magic"
perhaps the real question is: when will it come?
ReplyDeletejedilost- Sometimes the sad question is: Why is it gone? Was it ever there?
ReplyDeleteOkur,
ReplyDeleteha ha. As mentioned above, I am tending to let people ask question 0002 til 1000 themselves.
What about this, though?
(Perhaps) Love is undefinable, as it is magic. :)
Jedilost,
Eros would not anounce when, where and at whom he would aim his arrows. :)