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Does love exist?

I've been thinking about this a lot recently and can only come to the conclusion that... it doesn't. I don't feel love for anyone or anything, it's just a creation of society and TV, but it's not actually real. Everyone talks about it but can't define it - there is nothing to define.

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Reply 1

theCORN

I read something in the paper the other day that scientists proved love exists. People in a what they would consider a loving relationship had acted differently when around each other, i mean brainwise. I wish i could find a link...

I'll go and search...Nope cant find it...

Basically I'm sure it does. When you love someone you really don't feel like eating or sleeping. Think about your family/friends if suddenly one of them went out of your life would must feel something?

If you truly don't love anyone...don't kill them if you get the urge! :wink:

I think it's a sign of narcissism. Some with extreme symptons are the ones you read about that have shot their family and carried on as if nothing has happened.

:smile:

What a happy post.

Reply 2

Sausage

Of course you cant define love, love is different for every person.

Reply 3

louisedotcom

Love does exist as far as im concerned. Its hard to define or explain because its complex beyond anything ive experienced before in my life.
Truely Loving someone (in terms of a partner) makes you happy beyond anything you ever thought was possible, it can make you do things you would never normally do and feel things you didnt know existed. Its completely bizarre and completely amazing at the same time. Which is why people struggle to find the right words. Its not something that can be defined properly because as sausage said Love is different for everyone and the experience of being in love effects people differently.

Thats my opinion on it anyway :biggrin:

Reply 4

Harv616

It's a social construct, in parts of the world there is no conept of love at all.

But it does exist, which is both great and sucks at the same time

Reply 5

Bluelight

it exists, but it is hard to define, its the way people talk about it, but not the same, at the same time if that makes sense.

Reply 6

Mangaroo

whats the difference between loving someone, and really really really caring about someone..?

Reply 7

mermania

Mangaroo

whats the difference between loving someone, and really really really caring about someone..?

exactly.
or the difference between loving someone or just "liking" them a lot?
I find the concepts impossible to separate.

Reply 8

Mangaroo

ive once said to someone that if i loved someone, i would be willing to move country for them, leave my career for them and give my life for them.

If you really (x10^99) cared about someone, you may do all of things.

I think there is no difference, its just a label. If you cared about someone to the extent i described above, you'd want to separate that feeling from caring feelings towards others, or at much less degrees..so you say you love them..of course different people maybe label feelings which are at different intensities as the same (aka not everyone would give up their life for the people they 'love')..

even on tsr, u read stories about partners saying to them that they love for them, and then going off to sleep with other people or breaking up with them to go to university...
clearly 'love' is thrown about too much.

and the real dilemma is in a relationship, and your partner tells you they love you. Love would mean a different thing to them then to you...of course you may both have the same actual feeling towards each other and care about each other the same! but one labels that feeling as love...and the other says its care....explaining it to your partner..they just wouldnt understand, or even want to understand, so people sometimes just give in and say it to avoid the problem (not me! im a stubborn mutha) ...anyone else gone through that?

(i ended up saying something along the lines of "if i loved someone, i would be willing to move country for them, leave my career for them and give my life for them, would you be willing to do that for me?") didnt go down too good..

Reply 9

dream_theater

i think it's sorta like god. it exists for some people who feel it, but for people who don't feel it it doesn't exist.

depends on the sorta love too. you can love a band so much you would pay a thousand pounds just to see them live. you can love your cat or child so much you'd risk your life to protect them. you can love your mum and be devastated if anything happened to her. you can love your partner and think they're amazing and wanna spend every second with them.

Reply 10

Font

blackswan

love is gods ways to get people to prcreate.
heard that somewhere, think its true,

1) god doesn't exist
2) love doesn't exist - otherwise i'd have found it in the last 21 years!

Reply 11

Mr Ben

rockclimber

love doesn't exist - otherwise i'd have found it in the last 21 years!

Lack of proof can't be used as proof against an idea. I'm fairly certain there are lots of things in this world that you haven't personaly seen with your own two eyes in real life and yet they still exist. Just because you haven't found it doesn't mean that nobody else has.
I for one love my girlfriend and would do anything for her.

Reply 12

rockclimber

2) love doesn't exist - otherwise i'd have found it in the last 21 years!

Yes, because many children from the ages of 1-18 are in serious relationships with a deep connection and commitment where love can develop. The fact you've not found love in ALL those years is clearly proof it doesn't exist...

The definition of relationship-love can be tricky, but the easiest way to see love is to look at the bond between a parent and a child (especially when they're young, before they turn into ****ty teenagers). That's love.

Reply 13

Segat1

Yes. It does. When it hits you square in the chest and wrenches your heart out and then kicks it around then you'll know the difference.

Reply 14

Segat1

Yes. It does. When it hits you square in the chest and wrenches your heart out and then kicks it around then you'll know the difference.

Are you sure you've not confused love with some kind of polar bear?

Reply 15

Segat1

Lol. No.

Reply 16

sabby ohh

I don't see why so many people think love doesn't exist. Its not some sort of magical concept that is so hard to believe. It's only a feeling. If you feel it, then surely it exists. Its the same as saying happiness doesn't exist, or saddness. If you feel happy at some point, then obviously it does exist and no body is going to make you feel differently no matter how many anti-love theories they throw at you. Personal experience is the biggest proof you could have for something. Its the same as religious believers- if someone feels they have personally experienced god in some way, they are of course going to believe in Him. That wont change, no matter how many people tell them that god doesn't exist or try offer alternative explanations for what they might have experienced. it's just such a personal thing.

Reply 17

louisedotcom

In response to what some others have said regarding whats the difference between really really liking somone and love- well there are a number of differences from my perspective.

Firstly I really really like my friends and I care for them alot, but if it came to it I wouldnt move to the other side of the world to be with them. I wouldnt give up a job I liked or something along those lines if it meant I wouldnt see them reguarly. Theres a whole host of other things I wouldnt do for people I really really care about that I would do for someone I truely loved.

In short, its complete selflessness. Perhaps an extreme example would be being an organ doner. If my boyfriend needed a kidney I would have absolutley no hesitation in giving it to him- I wouldnt even blink before agreeing to it. No matter what the possible risks or complications its his if he needed it. Whereas with a friend, id probably still go through with it, but id be far more cautious id want to know the risks and weigh up the pros and cons.

I think a very non romanticied way of putting it would be the value that you give people. The people you value most being the ones you love.

Reply 18

Mangaroo

its different for different people to be honest, or at least how they would describe it

Reply 19

tetrahydrocannabinol.

I don't believe in god (hence the lower case 'G') but I do think 'love' exists; whether 'love' is a name we have given to attraction with strong feelings of attachment, and bearing in mind that in some parts of the world, there is no such thing as 'love', I do believe it. It's the reason I punched a 10 year old for bullying my little brother over a speech impediment. I'd never punch a child, but there's that weird force, which we all call 'love' that just makes you do stuff you wouldn't usually do for other people. If my brother needed a heart transplant tomorrow he could have mine in an instant. It's inexplicable, but I bet a lot of you on here with siblings feel fiercely protective towards them. So yeah, love does exist, but that's just what we call it.