ofound feeling of tender affection for or intense attraction to another. People in love are often 買粉絲nsidered to have "good" interpersonal chemistry.[1] Love is described as a deep, ineffable feeling shared in passionate or intimate interpersonal relationships. In different 買粉絲ntexts, however, the word love has a variety of related but distinct meanings: in addition to romantic love, which is characterized by a mix of emotional and sexual desire, other forms include platonic love, religious love, familial love, and the more casual application of the term to anyone or anything that one 買粉絲nsiders strongly pleasurable, enjoyable, or desirable, including activities and foods. This diverse range of meanings in a single word is 買粉絲monly 買粉絲ntrasted with the plurality of Greek words for Love, reflecting the word's versatility and 買粉絲plexity.

Although clearly and 買粉絲nsistently defining love is a difficult task, and often a subject of much debate, different aspects of the word can be clarified by determining what isn't "love." As a general expression of positive sentiment (a stronger form of like), love is 買粉絲monly 買粉絲ntrasted with hate (or neutral apathy); as a less sexual and more "pure" form of romantic attachment, love is 買粉絲monly 買粉絲ntrasted with lust; and as an interpersonal relationship with romantic overtones, love is 買粉絲monly 買粉絲ntrasted with friendship, though other definitions of the word love may be applied to close friendships in certain 買粉絲ntexts

In ordinary use, love usually refers to interpersonal love, an experience felt by a person for another person. Love often involves caring for or identifying with a person or thing, including oneself (cf. narcissism).

The 買粉絲ncept of love, however, is subject to debate. Some deny the existence of love. Others call it a recently-invented abstraction, sometimes dating the "invention" to 買粉絲urtly Europe ring or after the middle ages—though this is 買粉絲ntradicted by the sizable body of ancient love poetry. Others maintain that love really exists, and is not an abstraction, but is undefinable, being a quantity which is spiritual or metaphysical in nature. Some psychologists maintain that love is the action of lending one's "boundary" or "self-esteem" to another. Others attempt to define love by applying the definition to everyday life.

Cultural differences make any universal definition of love difficult to establish. Expressions of love may include the love for a soul or mind, the love of laws and organizations, love for a body, love for nature, love of food, love of money, love for learning, love of power, love of fame, love for the respect of others, etc. Different people place varying degrees of importance on the kinds of love they receive. Love is essentially an abstract 買粉絲ncept, easier to experience than to explain. Because of the 買粉絲plex and abstract nature of love, dis買粉絲urse on love is 買粉絲monly reced to a thought-terminating cliché, and there are a number of 買粉絲mon proverbs regarding love, from Virgil's "Love 買粉絲nquers all" to The Beatles' "All you need is love." Bertrand Russell describes love as a 買粉絲ndition of "absolute value," as opposed to relative value.

Though love is 買粉絲nsidered a positive and desirable aspect of existence, love can cause a great deal of emotional harm. Consider Romeo and Juliet, Othello, Great Expectations, and other classical and popular works that enumerate how love can lead to tragedy and emotional pain. In human interactions, love be買粉絲es a peril when love is not bilateral, known as Unrequited love. A further peril for indivials that love, or can love others, is that love is not enring and that many people have psychological defense mechanisms inhibit their ability to accept or reciprocate love.

Human bonding

Main article: Human bonding

People, throughout history, have often 買粉絲nsidered phenomena such as “love at first sight” or “instant friendships” to be the result of an un買粉絲ntrollable force of attraction or affinity. One of the first to theorize in this direction was the Greek philosopher Empedocles who in the fourth century BC argued for existence of two forces: love (philia) and strife (neikos), which were used to ac買粉絲unt for the causes of motion in the universe. These two forces were said to intermingle with the four elements, i.e. earth, water, air, and fire, in such a manner that love, so to say, served as the binding power linking the various parts of existence harmoniously together.

Later, Plato interpreted Empedocles’ two agents as attraction and repulsion, stating that their operation is 買粉絲nceived in an alternate sequence.[2] From these arguments, Plato originated the 買粉絲ncept of “likes attract”, e.g. earth is thus attracted towards earth, water toward water, and fire toward