What is Love?

I love you. You love me. We all grow up and have experience with the word love. In the first phrases we hear from our parents as well leave the womb are I love you but what does that mean. Webster's dictionary tells us that love means:

Main Entry: love
Function: noun
Etymology:
Middle English, from Old English lufu; akin to Old High German luba love, Old English lēof dear, Latin lubēre, libēre to please
Date: before 12th century

1 a (1): strong affection for another arising out of kinship or personal ties (2): attraction based on sexual desire : affection and tenderness felt by lovers (3): affection based on admiration, benevolence, or common interests b: an assurance of love 2: warm attachment, enthusiasm, or devotion 3 a: the object of attachment, devotion, or admiration b (1): a beloved person : darling —often used as a term of endearment (2)British —used as an informal term of address4 a: unselfish loyal and benevolent concern for the good of another: as (1): the fatherly concern of God for humankind (2): brotherly concern for others b: a person's adoration of God5: a god or personification of love6: an amorous episode : love affair7: the sexual embrace : copulation8: a score of zero (as in tennis)9capitalized Christian Science : god


The word is one with multiple uses and even more meanings. How can we know the word and use it when it is so ambiguous. I say the word at least 10 times a day but not everytime I say it does it possess the same meaning. I often wonder about love we use the word so freely but how do we know when we have reached love. Is it a one size fits all word where every person can say thats love and thats not? Do we really love our parents or is say I love you to them just a nicer way of saying thank you? I love my boyfriend but my love for my boyfriend is not the same as for my mom and dad. What is this feeling love? Can it be real or are we just making it all up?

I for one believe love is an internal feeling that is unprovoked by the outside but a feeling from within. It is a feeling so strong that it can not be clearly described and thus we call it love because love can be so many things. I believe that there is false love in this world because people do not know what it is and just say it out of obligation or because they think they are supposed to. But with these false cases of love there is also true and honest love. The feeling of love a parent expresses for a child at birth or the first time you know you love someone because you know it is way more like or a crush. Love is so big for being such a simple word. I intend to explore this word love for the sake of myself and those that I say it to everyday.