Love

   

 

Love is any of a number of emotion and experiences related to a sense of strong   affection and attachment  The word LOVE can refer to a variety of different feelings, states, and attitudes, ranging from generic pleasure  to intense interpersonal attraction . This diversity of uses and meanings, combined with the complexity of Love is any of a number of emotion and experiences related to a sense of strong   affection and attachment  The word LOVE can refer to a variety of different feelings, states, and attitudes, ranging from generic pleasure  to intense interpersonal attraction . This diversity of uses and meanings, combined with the complexity of the feelings involved, makes love unusually difficult to consistently define, even compared to other emotional states.

 

As an abstract concept, love usually refers to a deep, ineffable feeling of tenderly caring (esteem) for another person. Even this limited conception of love, however, encompasses a wealth of different feelings, from the passionate desire and intimacy of romantic love to the nonsexual emotional closeness of familiar and platonic love to the profound devotion of religious love. Love in its various forms acts as a major facilitator of interpersonal relationships and, owing to its central psychological importance, is one of the most common themes in the creative arts.

The English word "love" can have a variety of related but distinct meanings in different contexts. Often, other languages use multiple words to express some of the different concepts that English relies mainly on "love" to encapsulate; one example is the plurality of Greek words for "love." Cultural differences in conceptualizing love thus make it doubly difficult to establish any universal definition

 Although the nature or essence of love is a subject of frequent 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 commonly contrasted with hate (or neutral apathy ); as a less sexual and more emotionally intimate form of romantic attachment, love is commonly contrasted with lust; and as an interpersonal relationship with romantic overtones, love is commonly contrasted with friendship, although other definitions of the word love may be applied to close friendships in certain contexts.

When discussed in the abstract, 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.

 

Because of the complex and abstract nature of love, discourse on love is commonly reduced to a thought-terminating cliché , and there are a number of common proverbs regarding love, from Vigils “Love conquers all" to the beatles "All you need is love."

A person can be said to love a country, principle, or goal if they value it greatly and are deeply committed to it. Similarly, compassionate outreach and volunteer workers' "love" of their cause may sometimes be borne not of interpersonal love, but impersonal love coupled with altruism and strong political convictions. People can also "love" material objects, animals, or activities if they invest themselves in bonding or otherwise identifying with those things.

Interpersonal love refers to love between human beings. It is a more potent sentiment than a simple liking for another. Unrequited love refers to those feelings of love that are not reciprocated. Interpersonal love is most closely associated with interpersonal relationships. Such love might exist between family members, friends, and couples. There are also a number of psychological disorders related to love, such as erotomania.

Throughout history, philosophy and religion have done the most speculation on the phenomenon of love. In the last century, the science of psychology  has written a great deal on the subject. In recent years, the sciences of evolutionary psychology,  evolutionary biology, anthropology, neuroscience, and biology have added to the understanding of the nature and function of love.

we will like to give different views of love

 1    Biological view.- Biological models of sex tend to view love as a mammalian drive, much like hunger or thirst. Helen Fisher, a leading expert in the topic of love, divides the experience of love into three partly overlapping stages: lust, attraction, and attachment. Lust exposes people to others; romantic attraction encourages people to focus their energy on mating; and attachment involves tolerating the spouse (or indeed the child) long enough to rear a child into infancy.

Lust is the initial passionate sexual desire that promotes mating, and involves the increased release of chemicals such as testosterone and estrogen. These effects rarely last more than a few weeks or months. Attraction is the more individualized and romantic desire for a specific candidate for mating, which develops out of lust as commitment to an individual mate forms. Recent studies in neuroscience have indicated that as people fall in love, the brain consistently releases a certain set of chemicals, including pheromones, dopamine, norepinephrine, and serotonin, which act in a manner similar to amphetamines, stimulating the brain's pleasure center and leading to side effects such as increased heart rate, loss of appetite and sleep, and an intense feeling of excitement. Research has indicated that this stage generally lasts from one and a half to three years.

Since the lust and attraction stages are both considered temporary, a third stage is needed to account for long-term relationships. Attachment is the bonding that promotes relationships lasting for many years and even decades. Attachment is generally based on commitments such as marriage and children, or on mutual friendship based on things like shared interests. It has been linked to higher levels of the chemicals oxytocin and vasopressin to a greater degree than short-term relationships have.

2   Psychology view. – This  depicts love as a cognitive and social phenomenon. Psychologists formulated a triangular theory of love and argued that love has three different components: intimacy, commitment, and passion. Intimacy is a form in which two people share confidences and various details of their personal lives, and is usually shown in friendships and romantic love affairs. Commitment, on the other hand, is the expectation that the relationship is permanent. The last and most common form of love is sexual attraction and passion. Passionate love is shown in infatuation as well as romantic love. All forms of love are viewed as varying combination of these three components. Following the fact that  positive and negative charges attract, analogs in human life were developed, such as "opposites attract." Over the last century, research on the nature of human mating has generally found this not to be true when it comes to character and personality—people tend to like people similar to themselves. However, in a few unusual and specific domains, such as immune systems, it seems that humans prefer others who are unlike themselves (e.g., with an orthogonal immune system), since this will lead to a baby that has the best of both worlds. In recent years, various human bonding theories have been developed, described in terms of attachments, ties, bonds, and affinities.

3.  Religious view. Most religion in the world has similar view of love though not exactly, but in different way.

a.            Judaism: In Hebrew, Ahava is the most commonly used term for both interpersonal love and love of God. Judaism employs a wide definition of love, both among people and between man and the Deity. Regarding the former, the Torah states, "Love your neighbor like yourself" (Leviticus19:18). As for the latter, one is commanded to love God "with all your heart, with all your soul and with all your might" (Deuteronomy. 6:5), taken by the Mishnah (a central text of the Jewish oral law) to refer to good deeds, willingness to sacrifice one's life rather than commit certain serious transgressions, willingness to sacrifice all of one's possessions, and being grateful to the Lord despite adversity (tractate Berachoth 9:5). Rabbinic literature differs as to how this love can be developed, e.g., by contemplating divine deeds or witnessing the marvels of nature. As for love between marital partners, this is deemed an essential ingredient to life: "See life with the wife you love" (Ecclesiastes 9:9). The biblical book Song of Solomon is considered a romantically phrased metaphor of love between God and his people, but in its plain reading, reads like a love song.

b. The Christian understanding is that love comes from God. The love of man and woman—eros in Greek—and the unselfish love of others (agape), are often contrasted as "ascending" and "descending" love, respectively, but are ultimately the same thing.

There are several Greek words for "love" that are regularly referred to in Christian circles.

 Agape: In the New Testament , agape is charitable, selfless, altruistic, and unconditional. It is parental love, seen as creating goodness in the world; it is the way God is seen to love humanity, and it is seen as the kind of love that Christians aspire to have for one another.

 Phileo: Also used in the New Testament, phileo is a human response to something that is found to be delightful. Also known as "brotherly love."

Christians  believe that to Love God with all your heart, mind, and strength and Love your neighbors   as yourself are the two most important things in life.

The Apostle Paul glorified love as the most important virtue of all. Describing love in the famous poem in 1 Corinthians, he wrote, "Love is patient, love is kind. It does not envy, it does not boast, it is not proud. It is not rude, it is not self-seeking, it is not easily angered, it keeps no record of wrongs. Love does not delight in evil but rejoices with the truth. It always protects, always trusts, always hopes, and always perseveres." (1 Cor. 13:4–7, NIV)

The Apostle John wrote, "For God so loved the world that he gave his one and only Son, that whoever believes in him shall not perish but have eternal life. For God did not send his Son into the world to condemn the world, but to save the world through him. Whoever believes in him is not condemned, but whoever does not believe stands condemned already because he has not believed in the name of God's one and only Son." (John 3:16–18, NIV)

John also wrote, "Dear friends, let us love one another for love comes from God. Everyone who loves has been born of God and knows God. Whoever does not love does not know God, because God is love." (1 John 4:7–8, NIV)

3.    Cultural View. Culture is the way and manner that a certain group of people live. And different locality has different culture. As a result has different view of love..

In all culture, the biological sense, Psychology sense, and religion sense affects or relates to the view of love.

HE THAT HAD THE SON HAS ALL

This is great, take a moment to read it; it will make your day!
The ending will surprise you.

Take my Son

A wealthy man and his son loved to collect rare works of art. They had everything in their collection, from Picasso to Raphael. They would often sit together and admire the great works of art.
When the Vietnam conflict broke out, the son went to war. He was very courageous and died in battle while rescuing another soldier. The father was notified and grieved deeply for his only son.
`About a month later, just before Christmas, there was a knock at the door. A young man stood at the door with a large package in his hands. He said, 'Sir, you don't know me, but I am the soldier for whom your son gave his life. He saved many lives that day, and he was carrying me to safety when a bullet struck him in the heart and he died instantly. He often talked about you, and your love for art. The young man held out this package. 'I know this isn't much. I'm not really a great artist, but I think your son would have wanted you to have this. The father opened the package. It was a portrait of his son, painted by the young man. He stared in awe at the way the soldier had captured the personality of his son in the painting. The father was so drawn to the eyes that his own eyes welled up with tears. He thanked the young man and offered to pay him for the picture. 'Oh, no sir, I could never repay what your son did for me. It's a gift.'
The father hung the portrait over his mantle.. Every time visitors came to his home he took them to see the portrait of his son before he showed them any of the other great works he had collected.
The man died a few months later. There was to be a great auction of his paintings. Many influential people gathered, excited over seeing the great paintings and having an opportunity to purchase one for their collection.
On the platform sat the painting of the son. The auctioneer pounded his gavel. 'We will start the bidding with this picture of the son. Who will bid for this picture?' There was silence. Then a voice in the back of the room shouted, 'We want to see the famous paintings. Skip this one.' But the auctioneer persisted. 'Will somebody bid for this painting? Who will start the bidding? $100, $200?'
Another voice angrily. 'We didn't come to see this painting. We came to see the Van Gogh's, the Rembrandts. Get on with the Real bids!' But still the auctioneer continued. 'The son! The son! Who'll take the son?'
Finally, a voice came from the very back of the room. It was the longtime gardener of the man and his son. 'I'll give $10 for the painting.' Being a poor man, it was all he could afford. 'We have $10, who will bid $20?' 'Give it to him for $10. Let's see the masters.'
The crowd was becoming angry. They didn't want the picture of the son. They wanted the more worthy investments for their collections. The auctioneer pounded the gavel. 'Going once, twice, SOLD for $10!'
A man sitting on the second row shouted, 'Now let's get on with the collection!' The auctioneer laid down his gavel. 'I'm sorry, the auction is over.' 'What about the paintings?' 'I am sorry. When I was called to conduct this auction, I was told of a secret stipulation in the will. I was not allowed to reveal that stipulation until this time. Only the painting of the son would be auctioned. Whoever bought that painting would inherit the entire estate, including the paintings. The man who took the son gets everything!'

God gave His son 2,000 years ago to die on the cross. Much like the auctioneer, His message today is: 'The son, the son, who'll take the son?'
Because, you see, whoever takes the Son gets everything.
FOR GOD SO LOVED THE WORLD HE GAVE HIS ONLY BEGOTTEN SON, WHO SO EVER BELIEVETH, SHALL HAVE ETERNAL LIFE...THAT'S LOVE

BY MAJESTY

SECULAR VIEW OF SEXUALITY

INTRODUCTION

Sexuality is a difficult subject to discus whenever the topic is raised because it refers to various sexually related aspect of human life including physical and psychological development, behaviors, attitudes and social custom associated with the individual sense of gender, relationship, sexual activity, mate selection and reproduction.

DEFINITION

Generally speaking, human sexuality is how people experience the erotic and express themselves as sexual beings.

Biologically, sexuality refers to the reproductive mechanisms as well as the basic biological drive that exists in all species and can encompass sexual intercourse and sexual contacts in all its forms.

FACTORS THAT INFLUENCE SEXUALITY

Human sexuality is not simply imposed by instinct or stereotypical conduct as it happens in other animals, but it is influence by both superior mental activity and by social, cultural, educational and normative characteristics of those places where the subject grows and their personal development. Hence the following factors influence human sexuality.

A. Culture.

Culture is said to be a way of life of the people and it contribute a lot human sexuality either positively or negatively as it assigns roles to persons and detects how one acts according to their sexes..

Discussions on sex and sexuality are considered a taboo in most culture. In our environment for example one dares not talk about sex in the presence of little children as it is believed to have a negative influence on them.

B. The Mass media.

Media is a term used to describe the mediums of communication by which large audiences are reached. It could be via television, billboards, internet, etc. issues bordering on nudity pornography, violence, gender discrimination and dehumanizing life style abound in the media, hence it impact so much on our sex and sexuality. It must be stated that the media is a blessing to all who want to use it positively but a curse to all who explore and use it negatively.

C. Peer Group.

Peer group influence has been the bane of most adolescent as it influences their lives even without them realizing it. One learns a lot from his peers whenever he spends time with them. This is because it is natural to listen to people of one’s age group. Peers can a positive influence on each other such as good advice against sexual promiscuity which some peer give themselves. Sometimes peers influence each other negatively by encouraging them to do things that are detrimental to their sexual health and general well being e.g. sexual promiscuity, prostitution, cultism etc.

D. School Environment.

The school environment does not only serve as a centre for learning values but also plays a great role in teaching correctly about human sexuality..

The cris-crossing of students from different homes contribute to their knowledge of the right or wrong appreciation of human sexuality e.g. lesbianism and homosexuality found in most schools. Unfortunately, teachers who are suppose to be the champions of good morals have themselves turned out to be the worst culprit.

E. General society influence.

Whatever exist in the society have a way of influencing our sexuality positively or negatively, consciously or unconsciously. That is why certain sexual tendencies and orientation are accepted as a virtue in some societies while it is a vice in others e.g. homosexuality and premarital sex. The society is made up of families; hence whatever happens in the society reflects what goes on in the families. Thus, the need for good sex education and learning on human sexuality at home by parents and care givers. If this is done correctly and with love, it will go a long way to cure the society of the sexual vices and moral decadence currently ravaging our society.

Thank you.

by Dr. John Raphael