Current mood:	contemplative
Current music:	"Wonderboy" (Tenacious D) and others

What is Love?
Ok, light topic. ;) My thoughts (of course):

Dependence is not Love. Possession is not Love. Lust is not Love.

Life is about living it. Living life is not simply surviving/existing within it--that's life living you. Living life is actively participating in the process.

Growth is the increasing ability to effectively participate in life. That growth comes from understanding. Understanding of one's self in relationship to life in general.

Loving yourself is caring about and actively facilitating/pursuing your own growth. Loving someone else is caring about their personal growth and actively facilitating it. You can "care" about someone else's personal growth and not Love them. If this is true what is the differentiating factor? The "active" term is part of the difference. (Which ironically sometimes involves inaction--determined inaction anyway) But that isn't all, truly Loving someone is giving their growth priority in a way that's consistent and doesn't revolve around your own desires and convenience.

You cannot actively facilitate someone's growth if you don't know what pursuing growth entails. You can't truly know what growth entails if you haven't pursued it yourself. If you do not Love yourself you cannot "truly" Love someone else.

Inhibiting someone's growth is not Loving them. Completely subsuming and sacrificing your own growth for someone else isn't Loving them as you aren't Loving yourself. ( ... )


Well, that's my first stab at it, anyway. All things I've thought of and discussed, but I don't think I've ever written them down.