What song, movie, book, or other art form taught you about love?

[jobycom]

Did it shape the way you love?

I think the first song that ever made me feel something was Dolly Parton's "I will always love you," and sometimes I worry that my idea of love almost requires it to be a sad longing or completely unrequited. It doesn't always happen that way, but too often it does.

What artistic representation of love was the first to make you feel it?

[gratuitous]

1. J.Geils Band

I've had the blues
The reds and the pinks
One thing for sure
Love Stinks.

[jobycom]

2. Somehow I suspect that's one of those "Upon further review"

type reactions. :rofl:

But yeah, after a little experience, I did think they nailed it pretty damn well. :)

[driver8]

5. I got to sing this song with my friends' band after a nasty break-up.

First thing you must know, I can't sing to save my ass.

I sure put my heart and soul into the chorus, though...

[Forkboy]

3. The Joy of Sex

[dimbear]

4. The First Cut Is the Deepest

that's all you really need to know.

[Tobin S.]

6. Love and compassion for people in general?

"Huckleberry Finn" by Mark Twain. I think I was 11 when I read that.

Love of a sexual nature? I can't really pin point that one.

[jobycom]

7. I was thinking more of the basic romantic love feeling.

I didn't understand lust at eight or nine. Maybe I felt it, but it certainly wasn't my driving motivation. Was I that different? Do others really have that much trouble thinking of love in terms that don't involve lust? I'm as lusty as the next guy (probably more), but love and lust aren't the same feeling.

[Tobin S.]

9. When I said love of a sexual nature, I meant a romantic relationship

Maybe a poor choice of words on my part.

[Chan790]

8. Nerve.com

Lots of interesting non-pornographic writing about sex.

I have to say, I don't believe in love. At all. It's just biochemistry and urge to copulate.

[jobycom]

10. That's too bizarre a claim for me to wrap my mind around.

It's like saying you don't believe in eating.

[Chan790]

12. Really?

"I don't like food anymore!"
-Thanks to Homestar Runner for the quote.

No, I don't believe in love. What's more I don't want to. I don't believe in the Easter Bunny either. I'm not real big on flights of fantasy. I'm an empiricist and love is utterly irrational and nonsensical.

Edit: I keep editing this as I think of more I want to say.

[jobycom]

14. Not wanting to isn't an argument it doesn't exist.

That's like arguing Global Warming isn't happening because we don't want it to be.

So why does every language, every culture, every history, share the concept?

[Chan790]

15. Because it protects us from facing the fact we're mere creatures of biology.

Animals.

Why do most cultures believe in supernatural beings and dieties?

As Rousseau said, "Man is born free and everywhere is in chains." Love is a chain, man. So is religion.

(I edited the above post as I thought of more I wanted to say...you should read that too.)

[jobycom]

17. Why do you think love isn't a biological reaction?

You don't believe that emotions are created by our bodies, by chemical reactions? That's a belief in the supernatural in itself. Where do these extra-body responses come from? Scientists can measure chemical reactions when a person is in love, whether it is a romantic love or the love of a child. What causes these if not biology? Love is a biological reality, distinct from lust. It can be suppressed, it can be enhanced, it can be imitated by the brain's control over chemical reactions, but it is real. There has to be a kernel of reality there for the body to create the effects it does.

And before you argue that the same argument can be used about God (in case you were thinking it), I'll point out that all of the impulses that lead a person to believe they sense God or need God can be explained by normal biological reactions, too. God is an extrapolation from those reactions, and the fact that the reactions exist biologically doesn't mean the extrapolation does. Love is the reaction itself.

[dawg]

16. Love does too exist.

Separate and apart from the urge to copulate. And I think Strong Sad would agree with me.

[Rosie1223]

11. Interesting question

I can't really think of a song but then I came of age in the height of Disco, so that's probably a good thing.

And I read a lot of bodice-ripper romance novels that probably left me more jaded than anything.

I know the difference between love and lust now, not so much as a teen.

:hi:

[REP]

13. Easy - Shaw's 'Heartbreak House'

I read it the subtext first (not the allegory) and it contains much good information.

[mtowngman]

18. Jackson Browne-Sky Blue and Black

You're the color of the sun reflected in each storefront window pane
You're the whispering and the sighing of my tires in the rain
You're the hidden cost and the thing that's lost in everything I do
Yeah, I'll never stop looking for you
In the sunshine and the shadows and the faces on the avenue
'cause that's the way love is
That's just the way love is
Sky blue and black

And that's why he's the master.