Everyone knows what love is. However, if you ask this question to different people, the answers will be completely different. Why is that? And is there the only true and correct definition of love - this is what I want to talk about.
Science
So what is love? The definition of love has tried to give many minds of mankind throughout the history of earthly civilization. That is why it is worth considering this concept from different points of view. And I want to start my analysis with the scientific sphere. Interesting for many will be the fact that there is a special chemistry of love. Scientists have proven that when a person falls in love, his body produces such an amount of hormones that is akin to drug or alcohol intoxication. In this case, the brain receives signals that indicate that a person is in a state of love. However, this is only one side of such a state, and to consider love only as chemistry is simply a crime.
Interesting facts
We understand further what love is. The definition of love tried to givemany scientists, all their conclusions can be formalized into some rather entertaining scientific facts about love:
- Love is a drug. Proof of this is a tomography of the head of a man in love. The same areas of the brain are activated in him as in a person who has used cocaine and is in a state of euphoria.
- Love is a way of survival. Scientists have proven that human love is a somewhat modified form of infatuation in animals. That is, it is easier for a person to find one partner for life, and not constantly seek new ones to satisfy their own sexual needs.
- Love is blind. This statement also has scientific evidence. A German researcher found that the areas of the brain responsible for rational decisions and negative emotions in a person in love simply turn off.
- Love is an addiction. Scientists say that it is necessary to treat love in the same way as drug addiction: remove all irritating factors from the "sick" field of vision: photos, gifts, any reminders of the object of desire.
- Healing from love. Since when a person falls in love, the level of a hormone such as serotonin drops quite seriously, doctors offer to compensate for it with medication in order to be able to avoid crimes based on this feeling (as statistics show, their number has increased significantly lately). However, if you “overdo it” with this hormone, a person will not fall in love, but the attraction will remain, which is fraught with promiscuity.
- Men loveeyes. This statement is known to many people, but not everyone knows that it also has scientific evidence. During falling in love, the guys activate the area of the cerebral cortex, which is responsible for the visual factor. It will be interesting that the zone responsible for memory becomes active in women: the lady remembers the behavior of her partner in order to analyze it later and draw conclusions: is it worth being with such a person further.
Dictionaries
So, as a small conclusion, I would like to give a few explanations of what love is. Scientific explanation, formulations:
- It's a strong heart feeling, an emotional attraction.
- Sexual attraction, attraction.
- Strong positive emotions.
- Intimacy, tender attitude.
In general, we can say that love, from a scientific point of view, is pure chemistry.
Art
It will also be interesting that you can see love. Photos, paintings - they perfectly illustrate this feeling. However, this is not enough for art. Many writers also thought about what love is. She is sung in verses, songs, necessarily appears on the pages of prose stories and novels. Various quotes about love have already become so famous that people sometimes do not even know who said it and what work they are taken from.
- Boris Pasternak: "Love is a high disease".
- Stendhal, "On Love": "Love is like a fever, it cancome and go without the slightest sense of human will."
- Haruki Murakami, "Kafka on the Beach": "Every person who falls in love is looking for something they lack."
- "Physiology of marriage" Honore de Balzac: "True affection is blind. Don't judge the people you love."
- Shakespeare, A Midsummer Night's Dream: "That's why Cupids are portrayed as blind, because a lover looks not with his eyes, but with his heart."
- Fyodor Dostoyevsky, "The Brothers Karamazov": "What is hell? Regret that you can't love more".
And there are a huge number of such statements. As for the nuances, they will all be different, but they will still have a single line.
Philosophers: Erich Fromm
Philosophers also have their works on this topic. They talked a lot about love, giving information from a variety of points of view. Now I would like to pay attention to Erich Fromm and his work "The Art of Loving". What interesting conclusions did this philosopher make in his work. So, in his opinion, love is not just a sentimental feeling that can arise in a person. This is not enough, not enough. In order for love to develop, develop and grow morally, the person himself must. The first step that everyone must take is to realize that love is an art, akin to the art of living. And in order to understand love in its entirety, each person must perceive it as something more than a given. Alsothe philosopher says that in addition to love, there is some other form of relationship, a symbiotic unity. It is of two types:
- Passive is to some extent masochism, when a person submits himself to the will of another, becomes an integral part of him. In this case, he loses his individuality.
- Active is sadism, when one person subjugates the will of another person, making him an integral part of him.
However, mature love is the opposite of these forms of relationship. This is the union of two people while maintaining their personality, individuality, integrity. According to Erich Fromm, love is a kind of force that breaks down walls, helping a person to reunite with another person. Real mature love is a paradox: two people become one, while remaining two persons. Important nuances of love, according to the author:
- If a person loves, he will give (himself, his life).
- A man is fully interested in his partner's life.
- Partners must respect each other.
Fromm on love objects
Exploring love further. The definition of love, namely its different types, is also given by this philosopher in his work “The Art of Loving”.
- Brotherly love is fundamental, the basis of other types. This is respect, care, responsibility.
- A mother's love is the first love in everyone's life. Its essence, according to the author, should involve the desire of a woman so that the child in the future from herseparated.
- Erotic love is a complete carnal unity with one person.
- Love yourself. The author writes that this should not be confused with selfishness, these are different concepts. Only by loving yourself can a person become loved and someone else.
- Love of God, a religious form of love.
Philosopher Carl Jung
What other philosophers talked about love? So, why not turn to the writings of Carl Gustave Jung, who at the same time was a great psychiatrist and at the same time also a student of Sigmund Freud? His main and favorite phrase: “Nothing is possible without love,” from which many conclusions can already be drawn. According to the author, love is the most powerful all-conquering factor in human life. So, it is impossible to consider this topic without two archetypes that are inherent in every person: Anima and Animus. This is the so-called personification of the unconscious beginning of a representative of the opposite sex in the psyche of each individual person. These halves are attracted to people. What, according to Jung, is love? The definition of love given by the author: the traits hidden in a person are in another person and they also attract him, arousing a feeling of love.
Anthropology about love
The definition of the word "love" also tried to give such a science as anthropology. Why We Love: The Nature and Chemistry of Romantic Love deserves special attention. Here she identified three fundamental whales of this feeling: attachment (a sense of security and calmness), romance(the most powerful stimulant of love) and lust (satisfaction of natural needs).
Religion
Be sure to mention that there is also a religious definition of love. The Bible says a lot about this feeling.
- Prov. 10:12: "… a man's love covers all his sins…"
- Song of Songs 8:6-7: “… love is strong as death; she is fierce, like the underworld; her arrows are fiery; its flame is very strong. Rivers and great waters will not flood it.”
- 1 Pet. 4:8 “…have love for one another, for that is what covers all sins.”
- 1 John. 4:7-8, 18: “…love is from God, everyone who loves is born of God and knows God.”
- 2 John. 6 “… love consists in that everyone should do the commandments of God.”
These are not all quotes about love that can be found in the main book of mankind, but they fully reflect the mood and definition of this feeling according to religious canons.
Psychology
Let's study further such concept as love. The definition of love can also be found in psychology. So, scientists in this field of science identify three main factors on which this feeling is based:
- Passion. Attraction, excitement. This is the physical side of love.
- Proximity. Friendship, unity. Emotional side.
- Commitments. Willingness to solve the couple's problems, caring. This is the moral aspect of this feeling.
Greek love
The theme of love was touched upon by all peoples andcultures. At this stage, I want to talk about what types of love the ancient Greeks singled out.
- Agape. It's not just love, but more compassion. The highest type, when a person can give his all without expecting anything in return.
- Eros is passion. However, this is not always a bodily passion; it can also be spiritual. Eros by its nature is delight, falling in love.
- Filia, or sons, is brotherly love. A calmer feeling, the main thing here is spirituality.
- Storge is more like an attachment. Most often it is marital love.
These four types of love are still the main ones today, but in the modern world there are other subtypes of them. An interesting type of mania may turn out to be - this is madness, love-obsession.
House level
As mentioned above, for each person love is something different, special. Everyone understands it in their own way, there is nothing wrong with that. How can you characterize love in a simple way, without referring to the opinions of scientists, writers or philosophers?
- Love is the desire to do something good for a loved one, to constantly please him.
- “What kind of love is there if I can’t breathe without it” (feature film “Love and Doves”). Love is the desire to always be with your loved one, if not physically, then at least mentally.
- Love is constantly thinking about whether your loved one is well: is he warm, has he eaten, is he okay.
- Love is more about giving thanreceive without thinking about it at all.
To love means to forgive, to try to be better, not to pay attention to shortcomings. Love is a constant work not only on relationships, but also on yourself. This is labor that can only be rewarded after years.
