What is Love?

[ISFP]

oh..... love. that's tough!

my own understanding of love is "love is a selfless desire to see another's life flourish". if you're loving a person, anyway.

what about loving God or loving Truth?

[lunamoth]

Originally Posted by Quahom1

Bien sur Luna, Le Monsier nous a compris, très bien. N' est pas?

v/r

Q

Mais oui!

[Visitor]

Originally Posted by Postmaster

Love is something we all have, but love is something we all do not preach. Love is the way you treat and accept someone that has absolutely no use to you.

Lust and infatuation are what many, almost all really think of the word love. The love for your family, your brother, your wife is not love, it’s a physical attachment known as lust and infatuation. People that share your genes, people that will give you a child and people that have given you a child. The purest love should cause no feeling in your gut. Don't try mess your self up over it, we are only human.

Dear Postmaster
Love for one's family should not be considered under the idea of love as lust (husband/wife) or infatuation (children). Families and those closest to us are precisely the ones who are more likely to cause us the greatest level of pain at times because of the depth of our attatchment to them. For this reason love in this context more often has to be unconditional in its expression and nature. But you are right insofar as love should not be conditioned by the return we get for our investment in someone. If God loved us on this basis we wouldn't travel far at all!
As for the penultimate sentence in your post, I must say that our gut feelings and emotions are an important part of our humanity and do have a role to play in the nature of love and how we respond to God and others. However 'feelings' as such shouldn't determine our actions towards those around us (even though they do most of the time !).

[Virtual_Cliff]

I think we're all being a bit too analytical here. There is some truth in all these strictures and quibbles. But in the end, we can't love purely as God does because we're not God, we're human, we make mistakes, we mess up all the time. When we love we'd better just close our eyes and jump in with both feet, because to do anything less would not be loving, it would be calculating.

And we don't "decide to fall in love". It just happens. Open up, people

VC

[Sacredstar]

Dear Q

One of the problems is that people do not truly love themselves and when one does not love the self unconditionally it is very hard to be that with others. I worked with some health and education workers and they could not even look in the mirror, look deep in their own eyes and tell themselves they loved themselves. If they cannot love themselves unconditionallly and GOD's creation how can they possibly give love to the community?

Superiority masks and professional hats hide what needs to be healed and loved within. Which reminds me of Jesus when he told the priests in the temple to clean the inner.

In the new era of transparency of Christ Consciousness.

Love beyond measure

Sacredstar

[Sacredstar]

an example from matthew chapter 23

16. Woe unto you, he blind guides, which say, Whosoever shall swear by the temple, it is nothing; but whosoever shall swear by the gold of the temple, he is a debtor!

17. Ye fools and blind: for whether is greater, the gold, or the temple that sanctifieth the gold?

18. And, Whosoever shall swear by the altar, it is nothing; but whosoever sweareth by the gift that is upon it, he is guilty.

19. Ye fools and blind: for whether is greater the gift, or the altar that sanctifieth the gift?

22. And he that shall swear by heaven, sweareth by the throne of God, and by him that sitteth thereon.

26. Thou blind Pharisee, cleanse first that which is within the cup and the platter, that the outside of them may be clean also.

28. Even so ye also outwardly appear righteous unto men, but within ye are full of hypocrisy and iniquity.

[Blue]

Is it just me that sees much hatred beneath those words?

Is it just me that sees shouting - declarations - that say things that hardly have anything to do with 'love'?

[Sacredstar]

Dear Blue

Originally Posted by Blue

Is it just me that sees much hatred beneath those words?
Is it just me that sees shouting - declarations - that say things that hardly have anything to do with 'love'?

Yes I agree in his frustration and impatience with his contemporaries Jesus became angry with them and so it is we are able to learn from the error of his human ways and triggers. One cannot demand that another heals the self and their inner because everyone wishes to feel loved due to their own unmet needs and man is more seduced by love then blame. If we blame others people close down and disconnect from us don't they? Which is what I feel happened with Jesus and the Jewish priests hence the bad feelings between them that eventually led to his death.

For others to heal themselves we can show them the way with love and compassion, we can share the wisdom of our experience but only the individual can decide to find the willingness to heal the inner self and as Archangel Michael says 'some will win the game of life and some will remain lame'.

The meaning of life is to work out the meaning of life hey!

Love beyond measure

Sacredstar

[Blue]

Whoever was the author of that Gospel, they hardly do justice, SacredStar, to Jesus... perhaps, as you hint, only proving how human, rather than divine, he was.

[Sacredstar]

Dear Blue

Is it true that Paul wrote Matthew? Can't remember it did mention it on 'who wrote the bible' perhaps one of the others here on forum can enlighten us.

Blessings in abundance

Sacredstar

[Blue]

I was also going to comment on:
" 'some will win the game of life and some will remain lame'. "

That seems to be rather less than wisdom... seems to me like rather like just stating the obvious... lame people don't win the 100 metre sprint!

The fact is that the 'lame' often appear to win in their chosen fields... even famous poets( ) dictators ( ) and CEO's of big conglomerates.... but especially politicians.

Many are patently lame, metaphorically or actually, and succeed!

[Sacredstar]

"The soul works through the heart of feeling, which is very different to emotion. The sea of emotion can be calm or stormy, but the soul moves like a tree, sensing and feeling its surroundings. Just being a tree. it grows and prospers, with the energy of the universe a true sentient being. Receiving the energy of the sun and refreshment from the rain, roots growing firm and strong. The tree is clearly the way to be at one with Brahman"

Kim©2004

and so it is that Jesus says hold my hand, trust me you can walk on water and above the sea of emotion.

Dear Blue

I guess it depends on the context of lame. Jesus called the priests and some of his contemporaties blind masters, lame, deaf and dumb. I think in this context it relates to willingness to open one's ears and eyes.

I will post the full AM dictation it is called 'The Game of Life' as I cannot remember the main points of the dictation.

Love beyond measure

Sacredstar

[Sacredstar]

This is interesting I discovered it when I was writing about love in 1998/9


* Italian scientists have developed a blood test and completed research that proves that 'being in love' has an adverse effect on our brain cells and showed a common pattern similar to that of people with an obsessive-compulsive disorder. The blood shows a 40 per cent loss of protein which helps serotonin, a neurotransmitter, to travel from one cell to another. Researchers at the Psychiatry Institute at Pisa University defined someone as in love if they 'thought' about their partners for at least four hours a day. The results, published in the British Journal of Physchological Medicine show that after six to 18 months, the phases of falling in love changes, Professor Donatella Marazziti said. "It either ends completely or it turns into plain loving and high levels of protein then return to the cells'.

[Bandit]

I have enjoyed reading others posts on this, so I thought I would add my own.
This is what I think Love is, at least in part.
1 Cor 13:4-7 Charity suffereth long, and is kind; charity envieth not; charity vaunteth not itself, is not puffed up, Doth not behave itself unseemly, seeketh not her own, is not easily provoked, thinketh no evil; Rejoiceth not in iniquity, but rejoiceth in the truth; Beareth all things, believeth all things, hopeth all things, endureth all things. (KJV)

1 Cor 13:4-7 Love is patient, love is kind, {and} is not jealous; love does not brag {and} is not arrogant, does not act unbecomingly; it does not seek its own, is not provoked, does not take into account a wrong {suffered,} does not rejoice in unrighteousness, but rejoices with the truth; bears all things, believes all things, hopes all things, endures all things. (NAS)

Love is patient. Love is tolerant toward others. Love endures trying circumstances with others and maintains an even temper.

Love is kind. Love is compassionate towards others. Love is tender, considerate, and helpful.

Love is not jealous. Love is not envious, does not desire anything another person may have, but instead is even thankful for the advantages of the other person.

Love does not brag. Love does not boast about oneself. When we boast about ourselves, we put other people down by elevating ourselves above them. Boasting can make other people feel inferior to us.

Love is not arrogant. Love is not conceited or puffed up with pride, does not elevate oneself above others, does not lord it over others.

Love does not act unbecomingly. Love does not behave improperly towards others, does not take advantage of others in any circumstance. Love is well-mannered toward others in speech, in behavior, and in dress.

Love does not seek its own. Love is not selfish. Love seeks the benefit of others before oneself.

Love is not provoked. Love is not easily angered, does not respond to ill treatment from others.

Love does not take into account a wrong. Love does not keep a record of injuries inflicted by others; true love is unconditional.

Love does not rejoice in unrighteousness. Love does not rejoice when others do evil, but it rejoices when others do good. Love does not delight to see anyone involved in any form of evil.

Love rejoices in the truth. Love rejoices when the truth is made known. Love never rejoices when someone is unjustly accused.

Love bears all things. Love puts up with others when they are unpleasant, even when they continue to be unpleasant, unkind, and unloving.

Love believes all things. Love believes the best about others. Love continues to have confidence in others even when no one else does.

Love hopes all things. Love continues to hope for the best for others, even when they may not deserve the best.

Love endures all things. Love continues to love, no matter how much it costs. Love does not give up on the person loved. Love prevails, both in good times and bad times.

[Quahom1]

Originally Posted by Sacredstar

Dear Q

One of the problems is that people do not truly love themselves and when one does not love the self unconditionally it is very hard to be that with others. I worked with some health and education workers and they could not even look in the mirror, look deep in their own eyes and tell themselves they loved themselves. If they cannot love themselves unconditionallly and GOD's creation how can they possibly give love to the community?

Superiority masks and professional hats hide what needs to be healed and loved within. Which reminds me of Jesus when he told the priests in the temple to clean the inner.

In the new era of transparency of Christ Consciousness.

Love beyond measure

Sacredstar

Hello Sacred,

Some of us need our pain. Some of us will never understand that. And some of us understand it, yet shake their heads in wonder. I suspect you are the latter, and I certainly am the former. It drives me to do better, to look out for others, to succeed. It forces me to never concede in defeat. It causes me to fight that which is wrong. It stirs my anger, and anger gives me purpose to fix things, or try. The world wants the likes of you...and needs the likes of me.

We both understand love verywell I think, just from different perspectives. That is not a bad thing at all.

I'll call you the peace maker, and you can call me the peace keeper.

v/r

Q