FREE ESSAY ON THE MEANING OF LOVE

THE MEANING OF LOVE

The Meaning of Love
What exactly is love? Is there an absolute meaning to the word - love? Or is it purely
subjective? The concept of true love is what we search for all our lives. Yet love is one
of the most misunderstood concepts of all. What people really want more than anything
else is to be loved unconditionally; to be accepted for who we are, and still be loved.
Sometimes we will do some crazy things, in the name of love. 
Love is actually the choice one makes to put someone's wishes, desires and needs above
our own. Many people confuse the word love with the meaning of the word want or desire.
For example, sometimes when a young man tells the woman of his dreams, I love you, when
he means that he wants her because of his own selfish desires. He's the one that may feel
all excited over her, but in reality he may want her because of her physical appearance,
or because of her mentality or her ability to make him feel good or important. Notice his
primary motive for pursuing her is based on himself and his desires; not on pleasing her,
although he may choose to please her, but that's only based upon the fulfillment of his
wants. The same goes for a young woman, when she says to the man of her dreams, I love
you, she in fact means that she wants him because of his physical appearance, status,
mentality or his ability to make her feel good or important. 
This usage of the word love for the meaning of the word want is ever so present in the
way we use and abuse it. Since we are selfish creatures, and our understanding of love is
to first be pleased, look at how this word is overused.
? I love Papa John's pizza.
? I just love Gone with the Wind.
? I loved Titanic.
? I love Jazz Music.
? I love Beethoven.
? I love The Island of Dr. Moreau.
To better understand the concept of love, lets define the value of love. Love is the most
valuable commodity in the world. We all need love just like a fish needs water. Without
love, life would not be worth living. With love in our lives, we are empowered beyond
belief. Without love in our lives we will shrivel up and die a slow, painful and lonely
death. Love is the very essence and core of our being. It is the energy that sustains who
and what we are. Everyone in life has a deep-rooted desire to love and be loved.
Many times people only recognize love in its emotional form. We might hear people on
television say things like, I don't love you anymore, as they express their emotional
feelings. However, love is a lot more than what we feel. Love is a spiritual form of
energy that can be given or received in physical, emotional, or mental forms. Love
usually starts in our thoughts, then spreads to the physical world through our actions,
and then it will produce the emotional feelings. For example, it is possible to be angry
with our spouse and force ourselves to do something nice for them in our actions, like
buying flowers. Pretty soon our emotions kick in and after we see how happy our partner
is upon receiving the gift, our emotions will follow. Love is a spiritual gift from a
supreme force that starts mentally and finds its way to physical expression, but the
emotional feelings we call love have very little to do with what love really is all
about. 
Furthermore, love can also come in healthy and unhealthy forms. Love is an energy that
can be used in a positive, healthy manner or a negative, unhealthy manner. There is
unconditional love, which is very accepting, supporting and forgiving. There is tough
love, which is disciplined, authoritative and conforming. For example, if a father's son
were using drugs, he could unconditionally love him and accept his destructive behavior,
hoping that he doesn't overdose and die. Or he could use tough love and put him in a
rehabilitation hospital in an attempt to save his life. So as a result, too much tough
love can be unhealthy, just like too much unconditional love can be unhealthy. 
The acceptance of love also plays a role in better understanding the concept of love.
Many times we give love to our partner the same way we would like to receive it. But
loving a person this way might not be in their best interests. If our gift of love fails
to promote the good in the other person, they might not like it and reject it. Other
times we might expect to be loved by our partners in the same way we were loved as
children by our parents. For example, if our parents made us feel loved by buying us
things, we might associate loving actions especially in the form of gifts, jewelry,
clothes and expensive toys. Our partner could be the most loving, supportive,
compassionate, understanding and caring person in the world and it's possible we could
overlook their loving intentions if they didn't come from a store. 
In conclusion, to love others takes effort, and in some cases this can be very hard work.
Ideally, we should also be able to love people who we don't particularly like or find
attractive. This is not as unreasonable as it may sound, if we understand that love is
not just a feeling, but it is expressed when we do something for another person that
benefits their spiritual and emotional growth, which in turn helps them realize their
full human potential.