Creek Running North

Never having to say you’re sorry.
Next question?

(I’m sorry...)

“love is touching souls.” - joni mitchell

Nope. But I know it when I see it.

I *so* wish that were an easy question.

Love of a person? Unfettered joy in another, even when they piss you off; where their interests are as important as your own, but they don’t destroy you; comfort with a touch, a heartbeat…

Love of a dog? Unconditional delight and mutual reliance; comfort in fur, eyes, and a wolfish grin; protectiveness; sacrificing the outcome…

Love of wild spaces? Feeling the heartbeat of a Place; protecting and conserving; finding comfort…

Why is there a difference?

(Am I the only one laughing?)

Sorry.

Eros or agape?

Tmorph, love means never having to… oh, never mind.

Eros or agape?

Some of each, thanks. And maybe a little caritas on the side.

Diotima wrote a nice blog post about this.

Theriomorph quotes: “He will create many fair and noble thoughts and notions in boundless love of wisdom; until on that shore he grows and waxes strong, and at last the vision is revealed to him of a single science, which is the science of beauty everywhere.”

If that isn’t love it’ll have to do ... until the real thing comes along.

Zeke.

Oh, Sherwood is right.

Selflessness.

Well, then love is NOT Zeke, because he always desperately wanted to eat whatever I was gonna eat, which is a bit of a Zero-Sum arrangement.

And I always desperately wanted time spent with him.

Unless you mean that selflessness that contains the seeds of its own selfishness.

Was it a desire to serve, though? That strikes me as ultimately selfless.

(And, of course, it’s unfair to anthropomorphize Zeke—dogs, TTBOMK, prefer “people food”; and, having a sense of self-in-time different from our own, can’t be said to be selfish or selfless.)

The request was vague; are you speaking of the experience of love, or looking for some other definition? Because my personal experience of it is, yes, selflessness.

“Ouch!!!”
.....
“If I had a choice, I’d do it again.”

The definition of stupid is subtly, but profoundly, different.

Hey, what happened to the “Edit” thingy?

For living beings, ones who bring out the best in you and you in them.

The definition of stupid is subtly, but profoundly, different.

Damn it.

Why didn’t anyone tell me sooner?

Unless you mean that selflessness that contains the seeds of its own selfishness.

Is this not the dialectic of dogs?

(Maybe cats, too, but that selflessness element is not so easily discerned.)

Damn it.

Why didn’t anyone tell me sooner?

You need to become a member and log in for that function to be available.

Oops. That was supposed to answer Rob’s question about the edit thing.

ha ha ha

I’ve had it wrong all this time. I’ve had to say I was sorry, and I’ve been selfish and dealt with selfishness in love. My joy has occasionally been “fettered”, and I’m sure I’ve had the same effect on those I’ve loved. I’ve brought out the worst in a few loves, and despite my best intentions let them bring out the worst in me.

So if I were to venture a guess on love’s definition, and for the record I usually wouldn’t, but it would start with the ability to roll with and interest in recovering from all of the above.

OK, I’ll take a shot at it:

Wanting what’s best for another being even more than you want it for yourself.

I suppose that’s selflessness. But I don’t think selflessness quite does it - there needs to be the “what you want for yourself” part of the equation in there too, even if you feel it and let it go to a lower level. We can be selfless with people we don’t really love, I think.

(And in my world, he’d damn well better say he’s sorry!)