Feelings, Perceptions, and Explanations - Essay Example

 Definition of Love I'm in love with you 'Cause I'd surrender everything To feel the chance, to live again I reach to you I know you can feel it too We'd make it through A thousand dreams I still believe I'd make you give them all to me I'd hold you in my arms and never let go I surrender Lyrics from the song "Surrender" by Celine Dion Introduction Love is everywhere…Our eyes are sparkling; we are shining with beautiful foolish smiles if we are in love. No one knows whether love exists or not, everyone believes it does exist though it cannot be seen, seized or heard. Love is possible if faith in love exists. Thesis: Love is a phenomenon, which is above our feelings, perceptions and explanations. It is of ephemeral nature and it is beyond humans' expertise to identify love, interpret it or explain it. It is more common for people to experience it, suffer from it, live through it…What is it, actually? Love is… Definition of love To define love one can read Shakespeare, another would rather kiss for the first time… Actually, love can be considered at different levels: from lingual expression to physiological, emotional and psychological contexts (Tibbetts 1979, p. 280). When people say "I love you", what do they really mean? In accordance with the definition from the dictionary: love is "a strong affection for another arising out of kinship or personal ties" (cited by Fisher 1998, p. 136). We would rather focus not only the essence of love, but on different types of it. First of all, love can be correlated with different meanings of this concept. "There’s romantic love; a love between two people, which is considered to be both intimate and sexual" (Fisher 1998, p. 138). Love is everywhere for me. I love my family, my friends, people and animals in our world. I love reading; I love God and many other things. Actually, I feel that all these forms of love are different and I can clearly feel this difference. Moreover, I feel that love to my beloved person, my mother or my best friend are different types of this feeling. To my mind, the closest synonym to any form of love is "comfort", "coziness", "pleasure"…too many other synonyms can be also selected, but I would like to prefer one of these forms of synonyms (Wood 1995, p. 80). People in their relationship try to find the golden mean. Very often there is a chance to put someone's happiness about your own feelings. It is one of the highest prices paid for happiness. Love to another person can be the greatest treasure in the world, but you have to pay a high price for it. One should love another person above his/her flaws. Not only positive features, but also negative features should be loved by a person in case they experience a real love. There is a wide range of such things as anger, frustration, selfishness, happiness, longing etc. Love is a broad feeling. Nevertheless, this concept can be hardly described exactly. In accordance with one of the greatest Russian's writers Leo Tolstoy: "Every family is happy in the same way, but every family is unhappy in a different way". The strongest glue for a family is love. If there is no glue, than there is no love in this family and it can be hardly claimed that people in the family are happy or if they are family at all. "I think that a family is a group of people united not only by blood, but also by LOVE" (Huerta). Love in a family differs from a romantic love to the greatest extent. When I say that I love my family, it means that I love them in all meanings of this word. To my mind, family bonds are stronger than bonds of any other form of love. Love in a family is more related with friendship. This kind of love is almost the same as friendship. To discuss love as a romantic feeling, it is more appropriate to refer to a famous William Shakespeare. Romantic love can be often described as a “permasmile”. The majority of people are connected with romantic love and each of us has his/her own experience in this field. It should be mentioned that friendship love is a milder type of love. Thus, romantic lovers can be hardly returned to a status of “just friends”. The power of love is incredible. At the same time, each friend couple has special feelings (Musselman 2009, p. 36). Friends have special societal bounds, but not strong feelings to each other. It is clear that friends and the couple can have some quarrels, but their love is the stickiest glue ever!     We can also to talk about "love" to our occupation. The greatest love to God is a divine feeling. God is our creator and it is difficult to compare love to God with our love to a beloved person, our parents etc. Love to God can be hardly expressed at an individual level. It is more connected with nature: "has a love for nature, a love for the earth, and a love for the gift of life, no matter what or who you think made the universe." From another perspective love can be also interpreted in a divine context in the following way: "Love is patient, love is kind. It does not envy, it does not boast, it is not proud. It is not rude, it is not self-seeking, it is not easily angered, it keeps no record of wrongs. Love does not delight in evil but rejoices with the truth. It always protects, always trusts, always hopes, and always perseveres. Love never fails" (1 Corinthians 13: 4-7). This is one of the most beautiful and apt definitions of love. We can surely believe that true feeling of love is as pure as a drop of underground water.   Conclusion We have stuck to each other and our connections are supported by love. To love means to stick to another person tenderly. A loving person does not have intentions to changes his beloved one. The love between friends, family members or some other related people can be considered as another form of love. From my own point of view, I can surely claim that love is something above all other related definitions of love. He/she just loves not for something, but in spite of all and this immense powerful feeling takes our breath away and makes us live! Works cited 1 Corinthians 13: 4-7. Web. http://dmcghee.smugmug.com/Spirituality/Thank-God/5913576_NvTFkp/276643641_TNdzhQ7#!i=276643641&k=TNdzhQ7 22 Jan. 2013. Fisher, Tom. "Rational Meanings: Toward a New Foundation for the Definition of Words (and Supplementary Essays)." Chicago Review 44.1 (1998): 136+. Questia. Web. 22 Jan. 2013. Musselman, James L. "What's Love Got to Do with It? A Proposal for Elevating the Status of Marriage by Narrowing Its Definition, While Universally Extending the Rights and Benefits Enjoyed by Married Couples." Duke Journal of Gender Law & Policy 16.1 (2009): 37+. Questia. Web. 22 Jan. 2013. Tibbetts, John. "A MATTER OF DEFINITION: Out of Bounds in the Girl Friends." Literature/Film Quarterly 7.4 (1979): 270+. Questia. Web. 22 Jan. 2013. Wood, Briar. "I Need No Definition." Hecate 21.1 (1995): 58. Questia. Web. 22 Jan. 2013. Read More