what is love ?

I'm clever. Well that's a first. Thank you for the compiment though. 

I think that you are confused. I think that you think to love someone unconditionally means that you will do this or that for them. 

It doesn't it means that you will love them no matter what they do. 

You are spinning things around. 

I suppose though your wider point is what is love? I mean is it a feeling. A behaviour. Both of those things. I guess when I say I'll always love someone what I mean is I'll always carry that person in my heart. Always feel love for them. 

I suppose the truth is that no one knows absolutely that they'll always want to be with someone. I could suffer brain damage tomorrow and become absolutely unbearable and I wouldn't want my wife to want me in those circumstances. 

I'd hope though she'd always remember the beauty she saw in me though and always feel love for the person that I truly was. 

I enjoyed your post. Thank you Jen. And Denner too. 

no I could never stop loving my wife no matter what. I couldn't forget her beauty and to know her is to love her and I do. 

In reponse to your number 2 question well that's what I wanted to find out. 

I know that I'll always love my wife because of how beautiful she is but I don't really know what love is. 

To be honest I don't think anyone knows what they would do from one moment to the next in terms of behaviour. 

I generally think though that when you love someone you want to help them and want to be with them. 

To be honest it's natural to want to be with someone that you find to be beautiful. I suppose really that is selfish when you think about it. 

But then I'd like people to want to be with me!

Jen to love someone isn't a behaviour , let's get that straight. 

Love is something that you experience. That happens to you, or that is you. 

It's not how you act. 

Progress!

I like the Andrew Lloyd Webber lyric. I don't know how to love him. 

How beautiful is that. You love someone but you don't know how to. I love that. 

Jen I observe my thoughts and feelings a lot. I write in what are we 8 till 9 about this but I'm currently wondering what is love. Maybe I will notice something and be able to bring it here that will help you understand. If it's useful I'll post it here as well as there. 

Let me not to the marriage of true minds
Admit impediments. Love is not love
Which alters when it alteration finds,
Or bends with the remover to remove:
O no; it is an ever-fixed mark, 
That looks on tempests, and is never shaken;
It is the star to every wandering bark,
Whose worth's unknown, although his height be taken.
Love's not Time's fool, though rosy lips and cheeks 
Within his bending sickle's compass come; 
Love alters not with his brief hours and weeks, 
But bears it out even to the edge of doom.
   If this be error and upon me proved,
   I never writ, nor no man ever loved. 

What is love?
Baby don't hurt me
Don't hurt me
No more

Baby don't hurt me, don't hurt me
No more
What is love?
Yeah

I don't know why you're not fair
I give you my love, but you don't care
So what is right and what is wrong?
Gimme a sign

What is love?
Baby don't hurt me
Don't hurt me
No more

What is love?
Baby don't hurt me
Don't hurt me
No more

(Woah-woah-woah, oh, oh)
(Woah-woah-woah, oh, oh)

Oh, I don't know, what can I do?
What else can I say, it's up to you
I know we're one, just me and you
I can't go on

What is love?
Baby don't hurt me
Don't hurt me
No more

What is love?
Baby don't hurt me
Don't hurt me
No more

(Woah-woah-woah, oh, oh)
(Woah-woah-woah, oh, oh)

What is love?
What is love?
What is love?
Baby don't hurt me
Don't hurt me
No more
Don't hurt me
Don't hurt me

I want no other, no other lover
This is our life, our time
We are together I need you forever
Is it love?

What is love?
Baby don't hurt me
Don't hurt me
No more

What is love?
Baby don't hurt me
Don't hurt me
No more

Yeah, yeah, (woah-woah-woah, oh, oh)
(Woah-woah-woah, oh, oh)

What is love?
Baby don't hurt me
Don't hurt me
No more

What is love?
Baby don't hurt me
Don't hurt me
No more

Baby don't hurt me
Don't hurt me
No more

Baby don't hurt me
Don't hurt me
No more
What is love?

you just had to didn't you! 

I know we're one just me and you. Interesting. 

I wonder if love is about unity in some way. 

Oxytocin is a hormone secreted by the posterior lobe of the pituitary gland, a pea-sized structure at the base of the brain.

It's sometimes known as the "cuddle hormone" or the "love hormone," because it is released when people snuggle up or bond socially. Even playing with your dog can cause an oxytocin surge, according to a 2009 study published in the journal Hormones and Behavior. But these monikers may be misleading.

Oxytocin can also intensify memories of bonding gone bad, such as in cases where men have poor relationships with their mothers. It can also make people less accepting of people they see as outsiders. In other words, whether oxytocin makes you feel cuddly or suspicious of others depends on the environment.

Source please?

Fortunately, scientists have pinned down exactly what it means to "fall in love."

Researchers have found that an in-love brain looks very different from one experiencing mere lust, and it's also unlike a brain of someone in a long-term, committed relationship. Studies led by Helen Fisher, an anthropologist at Rutgers University and one of the leading experts on the biological basis of love, have revealed that the brain's "in love" phase is a unique and well-defined period of time, and there are 13 telltale signs that you're in it.

1. "This one's special"

When you're in love, you begin to think your beloved is unique. The belief is coupled with an inability to feel romantic passion for anyone else. Fisher and her colleagues believe this single-mindedness results from elevated levels of central dopamine — a chemical involved in attention and focus — in your brain.

2. "She's perfect"

People who are truly in love tend to focus on the positive qualities of their beloved, while overlooking his or her negative traits. They also focus on trivial events and objects that remind them of their loved one, day-dreaming about these precious little moments and mementos. This focused attention is also thought to result from elevated levels of central dopamine, as well as a spike in central norepinephrine, a chemical associated with increased memory in the presence of new stimuli. [5 Surprising Animal Love Stories ]

3. "I'm a wreck!"

As is well known, falling in love often leads to emotional and physiological instability. You bounce between exhilaration, euphoria, increased energy, sleeplessness, loss of appetite, trembling, a racing heart and accelerated breathing, as well as anxiety, panic and feelings of despair when your relationship suffers even the smallest setback. These mood swings parallel the behavior of drug addicts. And indeed, when in-love people are shown pictures of their loved ones, it fires up the same regions of the brain that activate when a drug addict takes a hit. Being in love, researchers say, is a form of addiction.

4. "Overcoming the challenge made us closer"

Going through some sort of adversity with another person tends to intensify romantic attraction. Central dopamine may be responsible for this reaction, too, because research shows that when a reward is delayed, dopamine-producing neurons in the mid-brain region become more productive.

5. "I'm obsessed with him"

People who are in love report that they spend, on average, more than 85 percent of their waking hours musing over their "love object." Intrusive thinking, as this form of obsessive behavior is called, may result from decreased levels of central serotonin in the brain, a condition that has been associated with obsessive behavior previously. (Obsessive-compulsive disorder is treated with serotonin-reuptake inhibitors.)

6. "I wish we could be together all the time"

People in love regularly exhibit signs of emotional dependency on their relationship, including possessiveness, jealousy, fear of rejection, and separation anxiety.

7. "I hope we stay together forever"

They also long for emotional union with their beloved, seeking out ways to get closer and day-dreaming about their future together.

8. "I'd do anything for her"

People who are in love generally feel a powerful sense of empathy toward their beloved, feeling the other person's pain as their own and being willing to sacri?ce anything for the other person.

9. "Would he like this outfit?"

Falling in love is marked by a tendency to reorder your daily priorities and/or change your clothing, mannerisms, habits or values in order for them to better align with those of your beloved.

10. "Can we be exclusive?"

Those who are deeply in love typically experience sexual desire for their beloved, but there are strong emotional strings attached: The longing for sex is coupled with possessiveness, a desire for sexual exclusivity, and extreme jealousy when the partner is suspected of infidelity. This possessiveness is thought to have evolved so that an in-love person will compel his or her partner to spurn other suitors, thereby insuring that the couple's courtship is not interrupted until conception has occurred. [5 Strange Courting Rituals from Around the World]

11. "It's not about sex"

While the desire for sexual union is important to people in love, the craving for emotional union takes precedence.  A study found that 64 percent of people in love (the same percentage for both sexes) disagreed with the statement, “Sex is the most important part of my relationship with [my partner]."

12. "I feel out of control"

Fisher and her colleagues found that individuals who report being "in love" commonly say their passion is involuntary and uncontrollable.

13. "The spark is gone"

Unfortunately, being in love usually doesn't last forever. It's an impermanent state that either evolves into a long-term, codependent relationship that psychologists call "attachment," or it dissipates, and the relationship dissolves. If there are physical or social barriers inhibiting partners from seeing one another regularly — for example, if the relationship is long-distance — then the "in love" phase generally lasts longer than it would otherwise.