What is love!? do do do du do do do

I've been contemplating how to define love for a long time now and i came to the decision that if i were ever asked i would say, “The selfless desire to be with someone.”  However, now that i've thrown it to the light, i'm not so sure that this is accurate.  If one takes this statement at a deeper meaning, it alludes that we are to desire to be with someone without conditions.  To a certain extent, i'm not sure that this can be attained.  By definition, we are supposed to give the exact meaning of the word and sense love is something attained.  i don't think that it's something that can be defined by a phrase like this.

We talked in my child development class, about what love is.  Naturally everyone had a different idea of what love was.  Some people didn't want to conform, others thought it didn't exist, and others confirmed that fairy tale love is real.  We were taught that day that love is what we are taught it is. 

Therefore I have ceased my journey for a definition that encompasses everything that love is because my previous statement simply doesn't cut it anymore.

I will only go on to say that our emotions cannot completely be encompassed by the limits and boundaries of our language.  So…  I wanted to invite everyone to come up with a word that embodies love in it's totality of which they attach the feeling.

For me, that word is:

                                            Wind



What's yours???   ;)

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fun exercise… I could see it as wind…love, as a word has too many meanings, I haven't narrowed it down but do feel it in varying degrees so for the brotherly love and getting along in life, I call it affinity from one thing to another whether its for a person(s), animal(s), food, my home or environment, education (things I study that I can apply) or spirituality, etc.  On the subject of love in a relationship, it depends on the communication lag between two people on how they move through issues together, which as long as they are working personally and together near the same pages, it can be love but can be as an ethics point if conditions change, making ethics senior to love if there's no change as a unit.  The reverse would be antipathy, “dislike” or rejection.  The affinity or lack of it brings about the various emotions between individuals and the environment.  This can always be changed by using communication and what is real for a particular scenario.  Love is the human manifestation of admiration.  One of my favorite definitions is as intensity of happiness addressed in a certain direction.  I thought my word was understanding but it is more…  

For me, that word is:

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The element of air  - wind - surely has the gentle, subtle, but sometimes stormy quality of love.
To me, the word that describes love is

harmony

describing how the synchronisity I feel with my husband, embodies harmony between our souls, the communication in sink, like a dance to beautiful music, one sensing the next move of the other.

In harmony in thought, and actions is also how I feel about the people I care deeply about, no matter how far the physical distance brings, we harmonicly think, create and move according to the same beat.

Nice idea for a thread.

P.S. Hi, Kathy, dear Sister!

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This is so good.
Love …..mmmmm I once felt total loving acceptance  for a group of people I was teaching. I came through me like a wind so Carl I see where you are coming from.
And my relationship with my husband and often my children could be embodied in playfulness Kathy.
Harmony also conjures up my sense of the unconditional Phoenix.
For me………thinking……..chi
It has occurred to me recently that chi might be love.
All encompassing, unconditional, part of all that is

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What is not love?

The wind seems like a good way of putting it so maybe the free-flowing wind is love and things like buildings and mountains which impede the flow are not love?
But then again maybe they are love as well, maybe they are there just to challenge love, to make it take different pathways, find new ways through and around, creating new forms of love that have yet to even be imagined?
Maybe it's all just energy, the wind, buildings, mountains, our flesh and bones and wind is just a soft fluid manifestation that we can feel on our skin and we can't see it, we can only see how it changes our physical world, how it so slowly wears down the hardened edges of darker form until those forms too become softer and rounder, more like the wind?

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I think we all have words that mean something to us that is unique and specific in identifying emotion to us.  Wind to me is not so much the function of what i feel love as but more when i stand in wind, a real nice breeze, is a similar feeling when i am at the apex of a lovely moment.

much love, errrr wind!

;) Carl

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Love has meant different things to me over the years. It started out as being what I was most comfortable with - on to relationships that fulfilled my longings - then I learned to put others before myself - along to being open to loving myself - now emerging into receiving the gift of my life - I'm not first anymore - I am becoming love.
All of my experiences have been stepping stones to my BECOMING.
Jeannie

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I like the sound of that Jeannie, 

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just been reading through the posts before I sign off - the word that came to me was love is an “adventure” or Love simply is…it cannot be grasped - only experienced

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Doug… your writing here is fun… just like reading your blogs filled with your back yard paintings and poetry… all worth reading and feeling the soft breezes here and there.

Jeanie - I love the sound of that too like Jenny mentioned.  There are times when it feels like this is it … the ultimate and things change.

This really is an adventure!  

Add your word…

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Wonderful and fun question and great responses.

Let's see … I will go with one-non-thing-ness - no, no - wait … let's see … ah … inseparability. Yes, I will go with INSEPARABILITY.

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my word is … hmm…
i am looking for a word that describes the bubbling over of a wellspring…  not just the source - but also the arising from the source… continually…
a word that points toward the meaning that cannot be contained in the word…
a word that encompasses searing passion to the wordless groan of the Sufi devotee to a gentle stroke of a hand on a cheek…
… i can't think of a word in english…
… i'll have to get back to you…

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I want that one Christine,
where can I get one of those…………

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Arpita, I don't mean to pull a Bud abbet and Lew Castello, but i think that “hmm” is a great word sometimes.  Try to keep in mind that the word does not have to mean in reference to our reality.  I chose wind not because of it's function or what it feels like being in wind but because the emotion that i tie to that word feels this way to me.  So if your word is in another language it doesn't much matter.  If i thought that “Iyi gecelar” was the word that invoked that feeling for me (which are the turkish words for good night) then that's the term i would use because of what it makes me feel not neccessarily what it may translate to meaning.

It's sort of why we listen to music that may not be in our language.  the feelings we have are real even though the exact understanding may not be.

mwuahahaha =3

Peace,
Carl

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hi Jenny… i don't know where to get a word like that either…
and
Carl, i get what you are saying…
we must use words - especially through a forum like this…
and we know that the word “wind” is not the wind - but points toward the experience of the wind.
words in arabic are like that for me - like the turkish for you.
Allah.  but in arabic script the form and sound is beautiful (to me) and the mental meaning of the sounds is secondary…. the energy contained in ththe prime sound (and shape) is like a key that opens the door to experience  - which is later conceived by conditional mind (and that is where the separation and subseqent difficulties begins)…
i suspect that arabic calligraphy is mystic in nature - and the form points to Allah-Source - and the mental meaning of the words are (to me) entirely culturally contextual and secondary.  tibetan and sanskrit also.
and the oral languages of ancient hawaiian and others… sounds of words as energetic keys which open experience beyond conceptual understanding…  as in “aloha”
music, tonal qualities and combinations of tones being another form of language that does that too… very direct… no understanding required.
allah - calligraphy

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too bad - the calligraphy allah did not appear… but there are many beautiful examples on the net.

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Perhaps part of the fascination of why we like other cultural signs to sort of connect with love is because to some degree we do not fully understand love.  There always seems to be a bit of a mystery about it, where it comes from, why we feel it, how is it so powerful that sort of ties in with the mystery of not knowing exactly why the characatures and symbols of other languages mean or what they convey. 

;)  I was raised on italian operah, enya, and various other european chanting musics.  xD hahaha

With much love,
carl

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The word love is to “its” many forms and possibilities as the word earth is to universe.

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Ahhhh…

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Love is a mystery, and a koan. How can it be understood? To be in the mystery of love is to be love.

To say we understand love, or to seek to understand it, is to place outside of our selves that which is our very nature. This is how the illusion of separation from self is created. And yes, this is what sets up the essential human journey. When we get that LOVE R US, all seeking ends.

Ruth

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Ruth,
Like seeking for what we what we already have.
Finding it I suppose.
And not losing sight once we have found it.
Experiencing all the facets in all the different lights.
Jeannie

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Picture poem from Eli
on Love~ Open picture in
a new browser for larger size.
What I do personally when its a poem
over art is I make the browser magnified
to the next larger size to be able to read
the beauty of the words.

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Kathy, if you just click on the pic..it will enlarge. However, I miss the big size pic feature very much

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Jeannie: Like seeking for what we what we already have.

Yes, that's how I see it. And to me the finding doesn't come from seeking, it comes from peeling away the layers of life we've unwittingly buried it under (perhaps including parts of *answers* we found outside ourselves in our seeking, but also, bits and pieces of ourselves that we or others in our world found unacceptable). And not so much a deliberate peeling as a becoming willing to expose ourselves, layer by layer, till finally the treasure is revealed.

I don't worry about losing sight once we have found it. It's always there. It's in our very nature to come back to it when we're ready.

Experiencing all the facets in all the different lights. Wonderfully put!

Ruth

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Isnt it interesting how we can find enlightenment in strange places. When I saw the movie Shrek and he was talking about having layers like an onion and the donkey called him Onion boy, I had one of those little lights go on in my head. I suddenly realised what Jeannie was just saying about peeling away layers. When I saw the movie I realised I was like Shrek, Onion girl. 

Recently I have been reclaiming parts of myself that have become disengaged throughout my life. When bad things happen I shut out that part of me that experienced it and put a layer over it. Now I'm collecting everything up again, uncovering the layers and enjoying things I used to enjoy and deliberately listening to music I used to like, and getting rid of the negative beliefs I had about myself. Like the photos. All my life I told myself I'm no good at photography. Now I allow myself to do things and do them well without feeling guilty. I was taught that its vain (negative, wrong, bad) to feel good about myself and found people who reinforced that for me. No more, no more layers. Just everything out there, vulnerable.

Is that where love starts, when you can feel good about yourself you are more likely to feel good and love others?

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Jenny: Recently I have been reclaiming parts of myself that have become disengaged throughout my life.

Yes, that has been my journey too. Peeling the onion layer by layer and accepting each formerly rejected part as it comes up. And layer by layer we come closer to the core, which is love, pure and simple.

Is that where love starts, when you can feel good about yourself you are more likely to feel good and love others?

I think we operate from the outermost level of what we've exposed. The closer we get to the core, the more intense the light of love that shines through. Early in the process, the light comes through dimly if at all—as when the sun struggles to make its way through layers of fog.

Whatever we radiate, we radiate from the inside out. When there's no interference (as from layers we've built up), when we operate from “an unreduced or unbroken completeness or totality” (OneLook's quick definition for integrity), what is there to radiate but pure love? In oneness, is war possible?

So yes, I see everything (love, peace, whatever) as starting from the inside out (like the Gandhi quote about being the change we want to see in the world).

And for me, acceptance and love are pretty close to the same thing. I don't think accepting and holding at arm's length can live in the same room. No, if I'm truly accepting something or someone, I'm holding them to/in my heart.

Ruth

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Love.

This word quickly overflows with more meaning than it is capable of holding. =)

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Kevin, reading your words I'm reminded of this 1970's song about meanings of love. 

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We see the world through our own eyes. But our perception of and interpretations for anything can't help but be coloured by the worlds of others who touch or have touched us. So in that sense there is perhaps no limit to the number of meanings that can be squeezed out of a word.

LOVE, though, holds all meaning and no meaning, it seems to me. It's beyond definition. It's beyond mind.

As soon as the mind touches something, the thing morphs into a perception, an interpretation, something we can understand through the mind. The mind is a translater. Some things, I have found, can't be translated. They can only be experienced. That's how I see it.

Ruth

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Ruth said, “Love is a mystery, and a koan. How can it be understood? To be in the mystery of love is to be love. To
say we understand love, or to seek to understand it, is to place
outside of our selves that which is our very nature. This is how the
illusion of separation from self is created. And yes, this is what sets
up the essential human journey. When we get that LOVE R US, all seeking
ends.”

This is the highest realization!

Big bow to Ruth!

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The essence of all that is between the lines from all of you -
I grin… & see some lovebugs all around :-)

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What a “love -ly” thread. Good move Carl.
Ruth I'm so glad you decided to take part in this group and Silent T being less silent is great and everyone else who has contributed, Jeannie, Eli, . I would like to say something deep and meaningful but am so tired after a tough day at work where I had to expand my capacity for love to the maximum. Working with families who are learning to live in harmony after being exposed for many years to violence is challenging. I enjoy a challenge but that doesnt make it easier.

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http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=7CYI5bKZMes
Heres a song about love,  Not sure how to copy the whole thing in here.

[mod repair: the latest tool has just been added … scroll down below attach Images and there is a space to Attach Videos … enter the url and it works now.] :-)

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If you guys don't know the pop culture reference that i named the post then check this out and try to ignore the 80's video and just listen xD

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=nsCXZczTQXo

I guess i sort of wanted to make the post a little open ended with what love actually is but if you look at all of our posts, love it seems, is simply the connection between us all, nothing more nothing less.  or as ST mentioned a few posts up, it is not that we are all separate and we are connected by something, it is that love is the thing that we all are.

Namaste,
Carl

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Re: What is love!? do do do du do do do

Nara-Narayana said Mar 27, 9:06 AM:
ONEderFULLY BEaUtiFULLquestion Carl.

Simply put, Love is the direct expression of God right where You (and anything) exists.

Now I understand that this explanation of Love might not encapsulate the meaning for most people's definition of Love, but Truth be told (or at least my Truth), Love Is All There Is! Now, with this understanding to carry us forward, we can begin to see that Love, in is Real form, can, and is, completely unconditional. If we would choose to view all of life like a flower blooming, seeing it go through its process of 'unfoldment' with patience and wonderment, we would then be able to allow the flower to bloom at its natural pace, rather than getting upset or demanding it to grow fast, or to change in some way to meet our desires. When we can take on this attitude of patience about all of life, we would nurture all of life with patients, love and understanding, instead of becoming upset or expectant of the flower to bloom faster than naturally possible. And the Truth is, everything and everyone is growing as fast as it already can, so instead of stunning its growth by try to force it to grow under our term, and instead loving it for what it is NOW. We would begin to nourish, and therfore help, all of life to unfold in a much more bountiful way. Not because of our desire, but because of the Desire of the Father (God). With these qualities as our intentions towards all of life, we enable of all life to be to BE what it naturally is. Unconditionally Loving everthing is the only way to live in my book.

Just my two cents. Take it for what it's worth. ;-) Brian 
 {reposted by mod}  NOTE:  When posting YouTubes, make certain they play or just put in the hyper-link to it.  Thanks MUCH… ~Kes

Re: What is love!? do do do du do do do

how to define love ~ I repaired this thread.. on LOVE:

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I respect that, I read it with love and express it with love. It's ordinary but sometimes we forget to remember the ordinary magic of love.

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Love… interestingly… spelled backwards… it is the first four letters of 'evol'ution.

To me… Love is the passionate desire to be one.

One with self
One with mate
One with family
One with children
One with community
One with universal truth
One with truth's creator…

Each level of these relationships can instill a passionate desire to unconditional giving and receiving with others…

In an evolutionary context… love starts with self… and grows in a tribal way.. mate.. family.. village.. nation… globe… ultimately being called to oneness with the universe and God.  Evolutionary love can be a gradual process of growing our love… and can be filled with uncertainty… doubt… and fear… but at the same time… we can find comfort in this type of love… for we share the pursuit of it with the rest of humanity.

In the context of universal truth and creation… if we choose to embrace a total, unconditional and passionate desire to be one with the universe… one with God… we will cease to evolve… and transcend to become one with all.  

When we pursue complete oneness… all other types of love… become natural and complete… and the passion is not in the desire to be one… but in the passionate sharing of love… 

While it may take thousands of years for humankind to realize its evolution, the self can achieve total love within a single lifetime… 

Do you want to spend your life evolving in tiny ways… or loving everything with passionate abandon?  The choice is yours to make.

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I like your love - evol-ution theory here Dave….when we cease to live, do we become “one with all that is”……is our journey here leading us to this “one with all that is” through our love of everything that is during our life journey …
we are all here to love and be the best that we can be and to learn to love others fully and to embrace everything in creation and to grow and evolve and help others to embrace their full potential..

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Thanks Taikunping,

Wonderful questions…!  Methinks that when we cease to live, we continue in consciousness to be 'all that we have loved'… 

We will be “one with all that is”… when we choose to live our lives on earth loving “one with all that is”.  Conversely, if we love ourselves… and just ourselves… that is what we will experience when we cease to live… that would be pretty limiting and lonely to me.

We are 'the love we make'… in every form of those words.

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this is good, thanks Dave…..
connecting in love n'light
Tai

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Oooo… love these thoughts and if I might expand upon them a little?
Love yourself completely unconditionally and expand your concept of self to include everything you perceive or imagine because why wait until you are worm food when we already are everything we love.

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why indeed! thanks Doug
just thinking of all the pink worms in my compost bin, I've not long emptied my kitchen waste…..

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This is a warm and loving thread from all of you.  Love truly is the greatest gift to all of life and keeps giving.   Yancey started a thread on the power of light that brings laughter and fun to this thread.  I wish there was a way we could combine what Yancey started over there here.  What he Resurrected1 & J~E~S~S came up with on energy is another version of What is love!? do do do du do do do as Carl so appropriately labeled the thread.  Thanks Dave for bringing this back to light for more discussion.  We could talk about this one endlessly and should to keep love flowing agape style.

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Hi Lee, I keep visiting and reading Yancey's thread, I love the baby in the Simpsons - Maggie, I have Maggie fridge magnets, she's wonderful….she would bring a smile to anyone's face!

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Hi Lee, All!

Thanks for cross-posting from over on the “games with energy” thread.

You want them combined?

Easy.

I'll start with arpta's post earlier where she starts it with  “my word is … hmm…”

In my reading way, I thought that “hmm” was her word and I LIKED it. I wanted it as my word meaning all that is love.

So my game today (and forever) is to go “hmm,” just a quick little 1/2 second hum, each time I see your Gaia Nickname and profile picture and vibrate you with Love light and energy!

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All hmmmming together in love
thanks Yancey

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The selfless letting oneself be totally present for everyone and everything. Constant endorphins and dolphin fins and people wins-wins and talking to rocks and socks and clocks and answering the knock of every moment/opportunity. Glowing from every pore. Including the ones on the bottom of my smelly scaly feet.

My word:                    intertwined

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intertwined, in-lined
glowing and flowing
tree tops and flip-flops
pretty feet and sweet treats
really neat, sunshine heat
water flows, chilled toes
words and pictures..

Tai
May 09

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What all your words say to me is “self”. When I love myself by letting the love of all other experiences in, I radiate that love to all that I expereience.
The self feels the love of wind, of chi, of hmm that vibrates the love in my bones, when I am compassionate, agape, graceful, oneful, magical, flowering, empty, I am full of love, full of being.
For me you all defined it.
iljung

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radiating love, radiating light
being one with all creation
spreading love across the world
joining the dots and matching the spots
our journeys together, lovin' all weather
brave delight, no flight…
being here, being there
circular and everlasting…

June 09
Tai

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time enough for love
knows no bounds
give it freely to all around
let your heart burst
and rejoice in the explosion
give of yourself first
all else is illusion

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feel love in your bones
earth's face smiles
heaven's father watches silently
all is peaceful
all is quiet
heartspace…

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Oh yes to Russell Salamon - Spy from the future, and Oh yes to the above - sweet!
thanks
Tai x

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He lives down the street from me.  I filmed his poetry once and HIGHLY recommend his books too… an enlightened soul that says it like it is for spiritual beings and puts the P back into Play… Thanks for the recognition.

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you are so lucky Kathy, I really connected with his words…thank you again

love's face in sunshine
offering gifts at solstice
harmony and peace

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May Peace Prevail on Earth
May we recognise our own inner harmony
May we find a place in our hearts for love
May we send this love to humanity

Tai

{mod… hard to open… go ahead and start a new thread on same topic}
Thanks for your contributions… excellent!!!