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Dr. Bob is Robert Hsiung, MD,
bob@dr-bob.orgShown: posts 1 to 5 of 5. This is the beginning of the thread.
Posted by 64bowtie on July 2, 2004, at 13:07:51
All,
Along about 20 years ago, I was asked by a mentor to define love. I wise cracked, "That's easy it's the opposite of hate!" "Wrong answer", responded my mentor. "The opposite of love is similar in nature to the opposite of desire. The opposite of love is indifference, similar to the opposite of desire being disgust."
Since that point in my life I have been able to connect six literary definitions of love. Please tell me what is a fulfilling definition for the word love for you.
Rod
Posted by rayww on July 3, 2004, at 15:04:44
In reply to Definitions of Love, posted by 64bowtie on July 2, 2004, at 13:07:51
Why not tell us what your six literary definitions are first? In the meantime, maybe I'll ramble a bit and see what comes out.
Love is the one single most influencial universal and acceptable gift to all mankind there is. It is available to all to feel and express. It grows when it is exercised and shrinks when we become selfish , self centered, and lazy. The capacity we have for love can be influenced by situations, circumstances, opportunities, enviornment, and culture. The type of love we feel can be either Godly or worldly. To feel the greatest degree of Godly love, we must learn how to live in the world, but be not of the world. Those who get caught up in worldly pursuits often find thmeselves chasing after lustful desires, coveting other's possessions, competing for more fame, fortune, recognition, or being so full of envy that it destroys their integrity. Immoral behavior will destroy our ability to truly love. Abuse will block our ability to love, but those blocks can be broken with time and effort. God wants everyone to feel and express love. He not only shows us how, but commands us to Love our parents, ourselves, our neighbor, and our God. Love follows a pattern, and that pattern has been clearly set in two places, one in scripture, and second, in our heart. There is a love conduit within each of us that connects with the love of God. It behoves each of us to search until we find it. There is no greater love than God's love.
Posted by Jai Narayan on July 3, 2004, at 18:43:04
In reply to Definitions of Love, posted by 64bowtie on July 2, 2004, at 13:07:51
Posted by 64bowtie on July 10, 2004, at 0:36:54
In reply to opposite of love...fear? makes sense to me (nm), posted by Jai Narayan on July 3, 2004, at 18:43:04
» All
I was setting the stage for my bombshell...
Children don't get it... There's is a visceral existence. They approach good-feeling things and avoid bad-feeling things. More detail can be found in books like, "The Second Brain"
The 'neuro-folks' show the vast majority living by feel-goods. Not much of a life... as I remember myself living like that. I spasmed out of control if anything ever was out of place, thus not an appearance that felt-good to my jaundiced little life.
Fear freezes the feet!!! Curiosity releases frozen feet......
The bombshell is that until about age 15 or so, children equate approval (because they can) to what gownups keep calling love. Then they seem to get it! Love isn't just a visceral feeling, but an acceptance of another person, respecting their separateness, and acting responsibly toward them, along with the visceral longing for them. Kids don't do this. Adults, who can, do, do this.
Be careful to identify that which was separating it from that which has been updated by the visual cortex. If we get to be 30 years old and remember the stories of our youth the way we want to remember them, they won't be what really happened. If I remember a shirt I used to wear as red, and the photo of me in my favorite shirt shows it as green, the red shirt memory becomes a distortion. If I assign a value to a distortion, I have created a faulty belief. Approval is not love. Kids grow up remembering themselves loving. Instead they are remembering approval and creating a faulty belief from the distorted vision they have long accepted.
Rod
Posted by Dr. Bob on July 10, 2004, at 2:00:25
In reply to Re: Re: opposite of love...fear???? » All, posted by 64bowtie on July 10, 2004, at 0:36:54
> Children don't get it... There's is a visceral existence. They approach good-feeling things and avoid bad-feeling things...
Sorry to interrupt, but I'd like to redirect follow-ups not about religious faith to Psycho-Social-Babble. Here's a link:
http://www.dr-bob.org/babble/psycho/20040703/msgs/364620.html
Thanks,
Bob
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