What is your idea of love?

[Milky Jade 138]

Yet what of the parents who love their children despite them not sharing their parents values? Ones whose vices tak center stage and bring grief or pain for their parents?

 

This may be more of an extreme for my arguement but I feel it makes my point. Whether it be violance, criminal activity, drugs, a disregard for authority, even trouble at school... maybe even all of the above. The fact remains here are examples of such a situation.

 

If this isn't "Unselfish Love", then I don't think we have the same definition. Where you love someone despite their flaws and vices.

 

I love ice cream.

 

See, the kind of love in question is romantic love. So that first part should resolve without complications.

 

It is not only a completely different feeling, but a different concept, too. Sibling love is different to romantic love. You often have no choice to really opt out of it.

 

Addressing the bold underlined italic: Where there is no choice, there can't exist selfishness. What's left is the cases in which you try to unselfishly love, well, anybody: for the sake of argument, it's anybody, because parents aren't the only thing receiving platonic love.

 

To love unselfishly means to be indifferent to that which one values. This is a contradiction in terms.

 

You cannot love somebody for their vices, but you can love somebody in spite of them. That assessment lies with the individual. It is not mine or yours to make. Where there is a value, there must be a valuer. Whatever I choose to love in spite of vices obviously has no vices that would completely undermine any values they might have because otherwise I wouldn't be loving them. Simple as that.

It's...finding yourself in someone else. It's really hard to explain.

 

I will just go ahead and say that this is the gist of what I'm rhapsodizing about in exhaustive length. There you have it, ladies and gentlecolts.

[Adorkable 2,737]

I would say, it's kind of hard to describe. Maybe it can be called "a feeling of extreme caring for one (thing or person)".

 

There's a couple different kinds of love though, things you would give your life for, and some that you just really like.

[Dattebayo 2,850]

When you two can have a silence together and it won't be akward.

 

I have yet to experience that, unfortunately.

Nothing but awkward silences for me.

[Shady Bubbles 429]

I'm not exactly sure if I know what love is. But after I saw the title of this topic, I had to post this 

[Frith is Magick 1,471]

Well, we have an interesting (and tough to answer) question here. Love, in my belief, is not a feeling that defines one type of relationship, it exists as a spectrum that defines various relationships. Love can exist, obviously, in romantic relationships, but also between friends and family. Love is caring about the well-being and happiness of another individual, including putting that person's interests first to an extent and having a higher degree of empathy than you would with a stranger. Love is a point where you accept both the positive and negative elements of a person, though more extreme negative traits may remain hidden depending on the degree.

This raises the question of what separates love from lust. Lust is short-term, manipulative, and never truly satisfied, such as a lust for power, money, or, the most obvious, sexual pleasure, whereas love is tied more to contentment. When you love someone it is a long-term emotion, hard to truly eliminate, and seeks personal fulfillment through the other person rather than just using them

 

Parting thought: Love may be a selfish, but expression of love is not.

[Raskolnikov 1,709]

Love is something you consistently practice, towards oneself and others. One can say they love you 100 times a day, but if they don't reflect that in their actions, their words are worse than worthless and are a stain on an already heavily discounted and misused word. It's not needy clingyness or displays of possessive control or "loving from a distance" emotional absenteeism but a committed and grounded practice. Too often infatuation or the desperate need to not be alone is confused for feelings of love towards someone, but those are merely projected rescue fantasies of meeting someone who will "save you" from your bad feelings, your life, your past, etc, and that fantasy is projected onto the object of infatuation. They come from a lack of love and a feeling of intense need, not from the presence of love.

On 2013-09-02 at 12:53 AM, 00Pony said:

In my opinion, love is a verb. It is something you actively do, more so than just something you feel. It's something you wake up every morning and decide to be. Love isn't just about what you get out of it. If love only has something to do with what you get out of it, you're doing it wrong. Love isn't just about the happy ending, as so many seem to believe. It's more about the awesome struggle to earn that happy ending.

 

Love isn't a word I throw around, or at least try not to, and do not like making my characters throw it around either. 

 

 

Are you best, or at least good friends?

 

 

Are you willing to be kind, when the make you mad?

 

 

Are you willing to take care of them, even when you get absolutely nothing out of it?

 

 

Are you willing to communicate with them openly, and honestly?

 

 

Are you capable of remaining loyal to them throughout?

 

 

Are you able to apologize to them when you mess up on one of the first five?

 

 

 

 

 

When, if at any point, you can say the answer to all those questions is 'yes', then congratulations. You are in love.

 

 

Love has nothing to do with those warm fuzzy feelings, because they are not grounded in reality. Just what you get out of it.

 

 

A lot of this, if not most of it, was inspired by a guy I watch on YouTube on occasion, and I found I agreed with his opinions enough to make them my own.

 

 

This is my opinion on the matter of love and what it is, and by extension, 95% of my many original character's view on things.

 

Agreed, and I will add that love should never be exclusive to romantic love. All of the above should apply to all kinds of love.

I'm also in agreement of bell hooks' (maybe controversial) view that love cannot coexist with abuse and neglect because by such definition love is an act we practice and not a passive feeling.

Edited June 18 by Raskolnikov

[Crypty Scribbles 6,389]

Oh mai... ponies tell a lot about love.

Love is when you just care without asking anything back.

As simple as gravity.

[DubWolf 18,460]

It’s not about you, it’s about that someone else. If you don’t support each other well enough, one may feel they’re giving too much of themselves and don’t have something to fill it back in.

You should of course, be able to take care of yourself first.

I have limited experiences with romance, but this feels about right.. 

Edited June 18 by DubWolf

[Fluttershutter 2,862]

I have grand corny romantic ideals and "it's all biology reproductive shit". Nothing in between.

[Ice Princess Silky <3 17,934]

Love has been such a pure feeling for me as of late. There really are no words for it.

Like, a deep respect. An enhanced awareness for both the will and well being of the other person. I am not a secular person so I would dare to convey the sensation as something quite… soul-like?

But if you are secular then the feeling would be akin to something like a deep reverence or awe… something of deep respect. Where you do not put yourself first but rather the other person. 

You wish not to hurt or control or capture but rather to kindle and cultivate so that the beauty of its autonomy continues and when it is reciprocated.. then wow, I believe it is a feeling beyond this physical world.

“Out of this world.” Quite literally. 

But for romantic love.. hah! I am quite sentimental and cheesy, so, all of the above but with all the floooofy fuzzy feelings! ;~;  
 

I have suspected that people experience love quite differently. Based on how I have heard their experience or descriptions.
 

Some people like the intensity, some of them like the toxic, others like the traditional or the alternative. Etc I love seeing how people experience it differently and share their thoughts, it is quite fascinating. 

12 hours ago, Crypty Scribbles said:

Oh mai... ponies tell a lot about love.

Love is when you just care without asking anything back.

As simple as gravity.

I like this.

[ExplosionMare 21,241]

Love is a genuine care and concern for someone that goes beyond the "thoughts and prayers" that most people give out (not that it's bad, just saying there's more to actual love). When you love someone, you are usually willing to make sacrifices for them when needed and you also have the faith that they'd do the same for you. You have a high level of trust and respect for one another. You truly care for one another and want to care for one another.

That's my view on family and friend kinds of love, anyways.  Couldn't tell you what romantic love is like.

[honk friend 1,987]

can you really, truly say you love someone if you wouldn't cannibalize them and/or allow them to cannibalize you

[Clawdeen 20,155]

On 2025-06-19 at 11:41 PM, honk friend said:

can you really, truly say you love someone if you wouldn't cannibalize them and/or allow them to cannibalize you

Yes because it’s not love if you wouldn’t let them eat you for lunch. Literally.

[Snoopy Fan 7,768]

On 2025-06-19 at 12:14 AM, Ice Princess Silky &lt;3 said:

Love has been such a pure feeling for me as of late. There really are no words for it.

Like, a deep respect. An enhanced awareness for both the will and well being of the other person. I am not a secular person so I would dare to convey the sensation as something quite… soul-like?

But if you are secular then the feeling would be akin to something like a deep reverence or awe… something of deep respect. Where you do not put yourself first but rather the other person. 

You wish not to hurt or control or capture but rather to kindle and cultivate so that the beauty of its autonomy continues and when it is reciprocated.. then wow, I believe it is a feeling beyond this physical world.

“Out of this world.” Quite literally. 

But for romantic love.. hah! I am quite sentimental and cheesy, so, all of the above but with all the floooofy fuzzy feelings! ;~;  
 

I have suspected that people experience love quite differently. Based on how I have heard their experience or descriptions.
 

Some people like the intensity, some of them like the toxic, others like the traditional or the alternative. Etc I love seeing how people experience it differently and share their thoughts, it is quite fascinating. 

I like this.

I agree with everything you said, Silky.