Day 5: Definition of Love (30 day meme)

[jubu]

This is frustrating. Wikipedia says: "Love is the emotion of strong affection and personal attachment. In philosophical context, love is a virtue representing all human kindness, compassion and affection." This totally works for me. But then Wikipedia continues:" In religious context, love is not just a virtue, but basis for all being. ("God is love"), and the foundation for all divine law." And this is where it gets messy. I mean, I know I am the atheist/skeptic/philosophical materialist, who only tries to believe in things that can be verified in a way or another, so I'm not hip to this kind of lingo, but damn, this doesn't clarify anything this kind of nonsense just muddies the issue. 'Love' becomes something nebulous and mostly meaningless when you say something like "Love is the foundation of divine law." Nobody knows what that means!

A dear friend of mine, Jara, is such a fucking hippie* he sometimes makes me want to cry. We once had a annoying discussion:
Jara: The true nature of Universe is love.
Me: What does that mean?
Jara: If you love, your love will be returned.
Me: So I guess the people who were killed in the Rwandan genocide just didn't love enough.
Jara: They were destroyed by hate of others.
Me: The machetes and AK47's really helped.
Jara: Those were just the tools of hate.
Me: So hate conquers love, when it has the right tools?
Jara: Love always wins in the end.
Me: What does that mean?
Jara: In the end, there is always love. That is what we mean when we say 'Universe'.
Me: No. When we say 'Universe' we mean all the all the matter, radiation, void and forces that make up our physical reality.
Jara: That's not what I mean by it.
Me: Is there any point in continuing this discussion, before we can even agree what do the words mean?
Jara: Like what?
Me: At least love and universe seem to need defining.
Jara: I thought I just defined them.
Me: To me, that was only confusing.

I know it's difficult word to pin down as it is, but it just gets more confusing when you add spiritual** nonsense on top of it. I'll stick to "Love is the emotion of strong affection and personal attachment" for now. But in practice I do feel that love is in the actions you take. Love that doesn't manifest in actions, isn't anything important. If you love me, I need to see it some way or it doesn't matter. If I love you, I try to make sure that you can see it affecting your life.



* How much do I hate hippies! I mean, sure, I'm a long haired, polyamorous, vegetarian leftist has a strong artistic side etc. A lot of people would call me a hippie. But I get so annoyed by the hippies feel-good, spiritual nonsense and their anti/pseudo-scientific musings. I guess Tim Minchin's Storm describes my feelings pretty accurately:

And this is funny, because I know me and the fucking hippies are mostly allies. They are part of the good guys. They mostly vote my way and they stand for human rights, sexual freedom, anti-corporatism and other good stuff. I understand that religious fanatics are far more dangerous to our continued survival as a occasionally sane global society and, if the worst comes to pass, as a human race, but hippies are far quicker to get my dander up. I guess hippies are just easier to hate on. It's not like their going to fight back. What are they gonna do? Hug me? I'll hug them right back and they'll still be wrong and annoying.

** And what the fuck does 'spiritual' mean?! Nobody ever uses this word in any constructive way. It's only used to confuse.

Comments

[rosabel]

Augh, my nemesis, the word "spiritual." Most of the time it is used by people who don't want to be labeled as religious (for reasons of distancing themselves from some crap that, say, the Catholic church does), but they don't consider themselves non-religious, either.
I've tried to ask people what they mean when they say they're "spiritual," and usually it's along the lines of that there must be more to life than just us humans and this planet, and the world is just so beautiful it makes you cry, and you just feel this great force of life rushing through you when you are on top of a mountain and, and... So, basically it's looking around you, and realizing that you are only a small cog in the machine that is life. I do that, too, but somehow my experience and understanding of the world is less meaningful. I had a person asking me once, isn't my life terribly empty and sad without this spiritual outlook. Rage ensued.

[rosabel]

Just wanted to add that if someone who labels themselves as spiritual does not recognize him or herself from the above description, then it is not about you. :) My thoughts are based on the people who I have personally encountered and who have labeled themselves as spiritual.

[jubu]

But I've yet to see anyone use the word in a meaningful way, even if it's not that particular brand of spirituality. Or if somebody reads this and you do consider yourself spiritual, please explain what that means.

[jubu]

I am in violent agreement with you! Like the feeling of awe is meaningless without something spiritual, ill-defined and otherworldly coming into play! Damn.

Universe is pretty awesome, hence the feeling of awe. And Eddie Izzard agrees: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=0rYT0YvQ3hs