What Is Love? … All This, and More.
A guide to other people’s views. What is your take on this topic?
I recently read another article by Medium author Dates) with the title: “3 Different Types of Love”. It ends with a quote from Alfred Lord Tennyson:
“Tis better to have loved and lost than never to have loved at all.”
At the end of her article, the author of 3 Different Types of Love offers these concluding remarks:
- The type of love you choose to indulge in is your choice.
- Love can be intense and pleasurable.
- It can be feared or embraced.
- There’s nothing to worry about when you can identify the type of love you are receiving and the type you have for someone. (After you figure that out, you can make any needed adjustment).
- Next time you say, “I love you”, or it’s said to you, figure out what type of love it is. And this:
Love is love. The highest form of understanding, but few understand it. Some become depressed when they don’t receive it. The effects of the four-letter word ‘LOVE’ have ruined empires because individuals don’t know how complex one’s love can be.
You can read the whole article with this link.
Some Real-life Examples of Love:
After the ‘Dates Galore’ intro to different types of love, come with me on a brief tour of four real-life examples that express what love is, for four different people:
Person One:
Me … and my Hesitantly Secret Love for my hoped-for Bride to Be. When I first met my wife-to-be and got to know her a little, I fell in love with her, but didn’t know whether she felt the same way about me.
I was hesitant, but apparently, I was a budding poet & songwriter too, because I found myself expressing my feelings and my uncertainties in a song that I wrote for her … eventually plucking up enough courage to sing it to her.
Here are the words of my love song:
The song is explained more fully in another of my stories under the title: ‘A Love Song for My Princess’ … one of my ‘Family & Fun Stories’ Collection
Person Two:
‘Christian’ the Lion who reciprocated his long-lost owners’ love. There are several stories on this phenomenon … of a ‘wild animal’, first befriended, then returned to the wild or sent to a zoo, and finally re-united.
The one I have chosen is about two young Australians, John Rendall and his friend Ace Bourke who, in 1969, bought a small lion cub from Harrods Pet Department in London, which was then legal.
Called ‘Christian’, the lion was kept in the basement of a furniture shop on the Kings Road in Chelsea, the heart of the swinging sixties. Loved by all, the affectionate cub even ate in a local restaurant, and played in a nearby graveyard, but it was growing fast.
A chance encounter with Bill Travers and Virginia McKenna led to a new life for Christian and eventually, in 1971, he was flown to Kenya, his ancestral home, and returned to the wild by lion-man George Adamson.
Nine months later in 1972, John and Ace visited Christian in Kenya. The following YouTube clip shows the remarkable reunion at that time. John says:
“He ran towards us, threw himself onto us, knocked us over and hugged us, with his paws on our shoulders.” … John Rendall
If you visit YouTube and search the topic ‘Lion Reunions’, you’ll find several examples of this type of ‘love’. The following YouTube clip shows a film of Christian’s reunion with John and Ace. It was directed by Bill Travers, with commentary by Virgina McKenna, (founders of The Born Free Foundation).
Person Three:
My Dad and his Secret Love Book. This is another of my true stories from my own family life. It tells the story of a Love Book that my father created. This book was unknown to me until many years after his passing, when my sister (who had been keeping it for some time) gave it to me. My Father’s Secret Love Book was an eye-opener.
Person Four:
Jesus’ and his idea of ‘What Love Is’. In the New Testament … 1 Corinthians Chapter 13, Jesus begins his description of love (in verses 1 to 3) by saying:
I may be able to speak the languages of men and even of angels, but if I have no love, my speech is no more than a noisy gong or a clanging bell.
I may have the gift of inspired preaching; I may have all knowledge and understanding of all secrets; I may have all the faith needed to move mountains, but if have no love, I am nothing.
I may give everything away I have, and even give up my body to be burnt, but if I have no love, this does me no good … Jesus (1 Corinthians Ch13 vv1–3)
Chapter 13 continues in this vein with references to love being patient and kind (v4); love not being selfish or keeping records of wrongs(v5); being happy with the truth (v6); never giving up (v7); being eternal (v8).
The final verse of Chapter 13 (verse 13) offers these words of wisdom: “These three remain: Faith, Hope, and Love; and the greatest of these is Love”.
Faith, Hope, and Love; … and the greatest of these is Love
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“What is Love?” * written by Fred: writer on Medium * * * * * © Fred Ogden 2022 * * * * *
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