Happiness and Love
What is Love?
"The name that can be named is not the eternal Name. The unnamable is the
eternally real," said Lao Tzu.
If you focus on the name, you lose the substance.
So, can Love be defined?
No, if we live it.
And yes, for all other purposes.
Love is your behavior towards others. Love has many meanings. It can mean an
intense feeling of affection, an emotion or emotional state.
Interpersonal Love
In ordinary use, love usually refers to interpersonal love.
Interpersonal love is love between human beings, and is more sympathetic than
the notion of very much liking for another. Although feelings are usually
reciprocal, there can also be unrequited love. Interpersonal love is usually
found in an interpersonal relationship, such as between family members, friends,
and couples. However, people often express love for other people outside of
these relationships through compassionate outreach and volunteering.
Some elements that are often present in interpersonal love2:
Affection: appreciation of other
Attachment: satisfying basic emotional needs
Reciprocation: if love is mutual
Commitment: a desire to maintain love
Emotional intimacy: sharing emotions and feelings
Kinship: family bonds
Passion: sexual desire
Physical intimacy: sharing of personal space
Self-interest: desiring rewards
Service: desire to help
Impersonal love
A person can be said to love a home, country, a principle, goal,
job, or hobby if they value it greatly and are deeply committed to it. People
can also 'love' material objects, animals, or activities if they invest
themselves in bonding their identity with that item.
The Power of Passion
Successful people win because they love what they do. All of them have a very
strong desire to succeed. They have passion for their field, their business.
Passion is the single fastest way to spur yourself to massive success. It is
something you love. Something you're excited about. Something you get up early
to work on or to stay up late... More
Religious love
Most religions use love to express the devotion the follower has to their deity
who may be a living guru or religious teacher. This love can be expressed by
putting the love of God above personal needs, prayer, service, good deeds, and
personal sacrifice, all done selflessly. Reciprocally, the followers may believe
that the deity loves the followers and all of creation. Some traditions
encourage the development of passionate love in the believer for the deity.
Religious Views2
Christian. Christians believe that love to God and to other people (God's
creation, as they see it) are the two most important things in life (the
greatest commandment of God, according to Jesus. See The Gospel of Mark chapter
12, verses 28-34 in the Bible). Saint Augustine summarized this when he wrote
"Love God, and do as thou wilt". Christians also believe in the love of God for
man so much that he would sacrifice his son for them. Many Christian theologians
see God as the source of love which is mirrored in humans and their
relationships.
Agapē. In the New Testament, Agapē, is charitable, selfless, altruistic, and
unconditional. It is fatherly love seen as creating goodness in the world, and
is reciprocal between believers and God.
Phileo. Also used in the New Testament, Phileo is a human response to something
that is found to be delightful. Also known as "brotherly love."
Nomos. Nomos is devotion to God, and the subjugation of the will before Him and
His divine law.
Buddhist.
Kāma. In Buddhism, Kāma is sensous, sexual love. It is an obstacle on the path
to enlightenment, since it is selfish.
Karunā. Karunā is compassion and mercy which reduces the suffering of others. It
is complimentary to wisdom, and is necessary for enlightenment.
Advesa, Maitrī. Advesa and maitrī are benevolent love. This love is
unconditional and requires considerable self-acceptance. This is quite different
from the ordinary love, which is usually about attachment and sex, which rarely
occur without self-interest. Instead, in Buddhism it refers to detachment and
unselfish interest in others' welfare.
Hindu. Hindu writers, theologians and philosophers have distinguished nine
forms of devotion that they call bhakti e.g. in the Bhagavatha-Purana and
according to Tulsidas. The booklet Narada bhakti sutra written by an unknown
author distinguishes eleven forms.
Kāma. In kāma is pleasurable, sexual love, personified by the god Kama. For many
Hindu schools it is the third end in life (artha).
Prema. In contrast to kāma, prema or prem refers to elevated love.
Karunā. Karunā is compassion and mercy which reduces the suffering of others.
Bhakti. Bhakti is a Sanskrit term from Hinduism meaning loving devotion to the
supreme God. A person who practices bhakti is called bhakta.
Islamic. In a sense, love does encompass the Islamic view of life as
universal brotherhood which applies to all who holds the faith. There is no
direct references stating that God is love, but amongst the 99 names of God,
there is the name Al-Wadud or "the Loving One," which is found in Surah 11:90 as
well as Surah 85:14. It refers Allah as being "full of loving kindness." In
Islam, love is more often than not used as an incentive for the sinners to
aspire to be as worthy for a God's love as they may. One still has God's love,
but how the person evaluate's his own worth is to his own and Allah's own
counsel. All who holds the faith has Allah's love, but to what degree or effort
has he pleased God depends on the individual itself.
Ishq. Ishq, or divine love, is the emphasis of Sufism, Sufis believe that love
is a projection of the essence of God to the universe. God desires to recognize
beauty, and as if one looks at a mirror to see oneself, God "looks" at itself
within the dynamics of nature. Since everything is a reflection of God, the
school of Sufism practices to see the beauty inside the apparently ugly.
Jewish. Judaism employs a wide definition of love, both between people and
between man and the Deity. As for the former, the Torah states: "Love your
neighbor like yourself" (Leviticus 19:18). As for the latter, one is commanded
to love God "with all your heart, with all your soul and with all your
possessions" (Deuteronomy 6:5), taken by the Mishnah (a central text of the
Jewish oral law) to refer to good deeds, willingness to sacrifice one's life
rather than commit certain serious transgressions, willingness to sacrifice all
one's possessions and being grateful to the Lord despite adversity (tractate
Berachoth 9:5). Rabbinic literature differs how this love can be developed, e.g.
by contemplating Divine deeds or witnessing the marvels of nature. As for love
between marital partners, this is deemed an essential ingredient to life: "See
life with the wife you love" (Ecclesiastes 9:9). The Biblical book Song of Songs
is a considered a romantically-phrased metaphor of love between God and his
people, but in its plain reading reads like a love song. The 20th century Rabbi
Eliyahu Eliezer Dessler is frequently quoted as defining love from the Jewish
point-of-view as "giving without expecting to take". Romantic love per se has
few echoes in Jewish literature, although the Medieval Rabbi Judah Halevi wrote
romantic poetry in Arabic in his younger years (also he appears to have
regretted this later).
Hesed. Hesed, which basically combines the meaning of "affection" and
"compassion" and is sometimes rendered in English as "loving-kindness". Hesed
describes God's mercy.
Ahava. Ahava for 'affection' or 'favor'. It is not as widely used as 'hesed'.
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