What is love? Baby, don’t hurt me; don’t hurt me no more? I don’t think that quite manages to cover rightfully one of the most confusing human phenomena in history. In fact, is there even a definition that does it? It seems like a tremendously difficult task, easily on the brink of being impossible. For as long as humanity has been able to stock evidence and records, historians have noticed a tendency of attempting to decipher what love truly is. Definitions come from a variety of places, the core explanation being found in the pages of the Bible itself.
So, let’s ask again – what is the definition of love? Here are 10 Amazing Answers that are the closest to a proper definition.
#1 Love is our true destiny. We do not find the meaning of life by ourselves alone—we find it with another. – Thomas Merton
It’s clear that Merton draws an equivalence between life and love, considering that openness to falling in love is the only true way to achieving a fulfilled life. He claims that all roads in a person’s life lead to love, which is “our true destiny.” The only way to find enlightenment and truly live is with another person by our side.
#2 Love is a taste of paradise. – Sholem Aleichem
Aleichem infuses the concept of love with a dose of holiness and divinity. Flawed by nature, love is the closest thing we’ll ever get to the lost Garden of Eden. This manages to bring out the pure and virtue-filled nature of love.
#3 Love is everything it’s cracked up to be… It really is worth fighting for, being brave for, risking everything for. – Erica Jong
In her definition, novelist Erica Jong brings in talk the realistic aspect of love, which is full of struggles and imperfections. She claims that there are going to obstacles along the way, that require a lot of sacrifices and courage, but that love is ultimately worth all of it.
#4 Love is composed of a single soul inhabiting two bodies. – Aristotle
As one of the greatest philosophers in history, it’s not surprising that Aristotle crafted such an insightful and profound definition of love. Through this quote, he installed the definition of a “soulmate,” by suggesting there is only one person in the whole world that can wholly understand and complete you.
#5 Love doesn’t make the world go ’round. Love is what makes the ride worthwhile. – Franklin P. Jones
Jones provides a down-to-earth definition, acknowledging the fact that love isn’t the center of the universe. Instead, he elevates it together with its flaws and imperfections and, similarly to Merton, he proclaims that love is the key to a truly lived life.
#6 Love is friendship that has caught fire. It is quiet understanding, mutual confidence, sharing and forgiving. It is loyalty through good and bad times. It settles for less than perfection and makes allowances for human weaknesses. – Ann Landers
Ann Lander’s definition is as wordy as it is profound, being the first on this list that understands true love must be built on the foundation of friendship, intensified after it’s been “set on fire.” She goes on by enumerating the most important elements of any relationship, concluding with the idea that there is no such thing as perfection in love.
#7 Love is the extremely difficult realization that something other than oneself is real. – Iris Murdoch
This definition brings up an important aspect of love – selflessness. When you fall in love, you suddenly aren’t the center of your own universe anymore. Instead, you leave no room for selfishness and, suddenly, your significant other becomes more important than yourself.
#8 Love does not begin and end the way we seem to think it does. Love is a battle, love is a war; love is a growing up. – James Baldwin
In his definition, Baldwin dismisses the idealism behind the concept of love, empowering the factual belief that it’s nothing short of fairy tales. Instead, love is as filled with strife and conflict as it is filled with contempt and peace.
#9 Love is an irresistible desire to be irresistibly desired. – Robert Frost
Robert Frost’s take is intricate through the plain fact that he chooses to base the definition of love around human nature. The quote above conveys Frost’s belief that we are all drawn to the concept of being longed after and desired by someone else, thus bringing in talk the realism of chemistry and desire.
#10 Love is but the discovery of ourselves in others, and the delight in the recognition. – Alexander Smith
Love often brings to surface sides of ourselves that we aren’t aware of. Through this phenomenon, we are capable of learning more about ourselves and capacities with the aid of our significant other. When we realize that we’re capable of love, selflessness, respect, and the other good elements arising from falling in love, we can only be filled with joy.
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