What is it?

[Aeoshattr]

Hm. I'll give 2 perspectives on this: my own and Aeo's.

 

Me:

There are many different types of love, as I think the Ancient Greek used to describe (Agápe, Éros, Philia and Storge), each with its own subtleties and differences. Some almost confound with friendship, others refer strictly to intimate aspects, etc - my point here is that you can love many different people in different ways, not necessarily the traditional "hearts and roses and candles" kind of love.

But all in all, I would say that love is simply the single strongest connection that two human beings can form. It may last for a brief moment and burn vividly and then fade (Éros), it may last for a lifetime and be steady and sturdy (Philia, Storge); the fact remains though, that for the duration of it, those in love are connected and transcend most of the less virtuous aspects of humanity. Love makes us better. Love makes you do things that you would normally not even consider, makes you forget yourself for others. 

_{I'm conveniently omitting the 12-year-olds in "love" who do stupid things. Maturity is an absolute prerequisite for love.}

 

Aeo:

Love is made of a speckled little mix of joy, sadness, hurt and a whole lot of fear.

Love means tiptoeing around, being extremely careful and attentive and gentle. Like trying to hold a delicate little butterfly between the shears of scissors; knowing that the slightest flinch could kill or worse, maim. Even more, no matter how you look at it, love is not eternal; all love ends, and the darkest, grimmest part is that it never dies at the same time for each half of the couple. The flame is always extinguished in one side before the other. Thus even if it does light your path or bring joy, when the flame flickers away to smoke, darkness will quickly rush in to fill the void - and when it does, you will be at your most helpless and defenceless. 

[Witty]

I think it depends on the perspective: Love can be seen in many ways.

 

While the guys already described what it is chemically, I'll just say what it is to me. To have a loving relationship, be it friendship, spousal, or even family relationship, you need a lot of balance. Sure, you may love someone, and they might love you back, but is it really love when nothing else fits? They love you, but they would never make a compromise, they would never make a sacrifice, they would never step on their own ego, and admit their faults, can that be called love?  I don't know, but I don't.

 

Sometimes, the love isn't shared, which is terrible, I think a lot of us have been there - you would do anything, you would make all of those sacrifices and things you need to do, but the other person wouldn't - and the lack of reciprocation leads to suffering, and eventually learning a lesson. 

I've learned my lessons in time, and my current view on love, is that it's made by millions of little things :). Find someone who has the same spark for you that you do have for them, and start building. It's like building a house, really, each one puts a brick on top of another brick, but if you base your house on a cracked foundation (unfaithfulness, lack of trust, lack of honesty...) the whole thing will collapse. But if the foundation is strong, you keep adding today's laughter and tomorrow's cry, sometimes the bad weather may crash a few bricks, but with a good foundation, you can always put them back. 

If something is wrong in the foundations (could be simply finding that you try to build a house with bricks while the other person is adding wood, or concrete) , it will always affect, even destroy the love eventually. (that's why I believe people fighting in early stages of a relationship won't last, something is already wrong). 

 

I believe that true love is ever-growing. :wub: