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Love=action? A preacher's thesis..

LIND

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A young preacher suggested the following definition for the term 'Love': Love=action (he used the rhyme "motion bring emotion").

Let's suppose that in a marriage one of the spouses invests every amount of energy in sustaining the other. However one day he has a car accident and becomes paralyzed. In that sense whereas before he was able to move and exempt his spouse from daily family duties, now he is precluded from doing so due to his paralysis.

The questions that arises is: can he still love his wife? If love is motion as our dear preacher suggested then he certainly can't! Based on the (1)definition Love=action the individual is no longer able to act thus he is no longer loving(in that sense the wife is deprived of her husband's love).

However could this be correct? Does one need to act/physically (move) in order to love the other?

Certrainly one may take the other perspective and suggest the following:

(2)If love is not motion then love is passive. But passive love cannot generate anything thus passive love does not qualify as a genuine definition of love.

However what this latter opponent might miscontrue is the verb 'passive'. If (1) indicated a physical motion (2) indicates a passive stance/a lack of motion. But in the context of love , love need not be moving physically even when it seems so in light of physical cues. Indeed the agent may still be moving mentally thus 'in motion'.

Doesn't a genuine definition of Love have to capture the mental motion?

Thus the definition as offered by our dear preacher is insufficient to this extent.(at least)



As far as the rhyme that sustains the definition, it simply does NOT work : "motion brings emotion"

Here: a boy asks a girl out-the girl refuses-the action of the boy leads him to regret his choice and arouses hate towards the girl and embarrasement within. Indeed motion brings emotion but does not guarantee that the emotion that it brings satisfies the one that love is looking for in this definition
 

nolla

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I find that weird. Love is the motivation for the action. It seems absurd to link the feeling to the doing. Maybe it makes sense if we think that unconsciousness needs to do something with the feeling. If I hate a person, I act out the feeling even if I try to not do so. But then we need to see acting in different light also. It would include gestures and everything.

EDIT: This theory might actually approve very deep form of hypocrisy. If you think action is love, then you could just go do all kinds of good deeds and think yourself as the best person ever, and simultaneously hate the people you are helping.
 

gigicat

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Love is in the mind first though, the action in in effect just a visible reminder to the person who is the love object... so that their being loved is known to them (and that can be known in many ways: deeds, words, gifts, touch- not just sex but affection). In the hypothetical situation the man may have to change the way he expresses his love (through speech only). The wife is deprived of the way he used to express his love but unless he is a vegetable, not love itself. I think the point is that love is a choice, and I do agree with that idea. Infatuation may not be a choice, attraction may not be a choice, but love is.

What I think though is that giving evokes feelings not only in someone else but in yourself (as the op said).

The more I express love and affection to others, the more I "feel" love. It is selfless and I know that that seems contradictory or a paradox because the argument could be that I give in order to receive those love feelings. BUT it is selfless in the sense that I ask how can I express in a tangible way my choice to love this person in a way that makes him feel most loved (back to actions).

I think the point is that with love you ask how can you give, and if you are loved in return (no guarantees) the other person is doing that for you in a way that is specific to you.

Um it's late/early and that might not make any sense. Been doing a lot of thinking about this though...
 

Moiety

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"Love is action", is what makes Ss would like you to believe.
 

gigicat

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Why just S's? How is love as a concept complete or fulfilling without an expression of some sort?
 

Moiety

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Why just S's? How is love as a concept complete or fulfilling without an expression of some sort?

"Action", in the colloquial sense, isn't the be all end all of expressions of love. I just see too many people fooling themselves into thinking it is. Particularly Ss. Particularly Ss dating Ns.

But yeah, not just Ss.
 

Totenkindly

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I thought it was pretty clear that he was combatting the mistaken idea that experiencing gooshy feelings is what "love" is... and he's making the point that love without deeds is dead. People who claim they love others based on their feelings and yet never act upon it don't really love others the way they think they do.

But the philosophical question you raise is still interesting.
 

Bamboo

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I thought it was pretty clear that he was combatting the mistaken idea that experiencing gooshy feelings is what "love" is... and he's making the point that love without deeds is dead. People who claim they love others based on their feelings and yet never act upon it don't really love others the way they think they do.

But the philosophical question you raise is still interesting.

This^.

I've seen love described as both an emotion but also as a verb - "to love."

Both are important, but external realities will effect the expression of it.

Specifically, there seem to be a lot of people who go out and "fall in love" and think "love will keep them together" or "love overcomes all." But without taking the requisite actions to compromise and communicate properly (that is, take actions) than the relationship is prone to failure or to be much less successful than it would be otherwise.

And there are some people who think that they can "go through the motions" and you see this a lot as well - married couples who do the dishes, take care of the kids, go to work and provide for the family - but the emotional element is flat. This relationship is prone to failure or to be much less successful than it would be otherwise.
 
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