Let's first look at AI's answer. It considers everything comprehensively.
Note
Love is a complex and multifaceted emotion and behavior that involves multiple dimensions:
- Emotional Perspective: Love is a strong, positive emotional state that represents a deep and sincere feeling for a person or thing[^1^]. This feeling originates from the intimate relationships between people or the connections between people and things, and it can also stem from admiration, compassion, or shared interests. Love generally exists within interpersonal relationships and can manifest as emotions between family members, friends, or partners[^1^].
- Philosophical Perspective: The philosophy of love is a field of social philosophy and ethics that attempts to explain the nature of love. Contemporary philosophy offers four answers to "What is love?": love is an emotion, an identity recognition, an acknowledgment of the other's value, and care[^1^].
- Psychological Perspective: Evolutionary psychology views love as a survival tool, a mechanism that humans relied on for most of their early life stages, depending on parental assistance. Humanistic psychologist Erich Fromm believes that love is a positive force for humanity, a power that binds humans together with their companions; love helps people overcome feelings of loneliness and isolation, yet allows individuals to maintain their own personalities and integrity[^1^].
- Cultural Perspective: Different cultures have different understandings and definitions of love. For example, ancient Greek culture identified seven types of love: familial love, friendship love, desire love, unconditional love, child love, spousal love, and self-love[^1^]. Confucian culture emphasizes the appropriateness of responsibilities, behaviors, and attitudes in human relationships[^1^]. Christian theologians view God as the source of love, which is reflected in the relationship between humans and their own love[^1^]. Islamic literature, such as "The Book of Love," equates love with the remembrance of God[^1^].
- Literary Perspective: Descriptions of love in literary works are often poetic and philosophical; for instance, Dante said that love is the seed of virtue; Romain Rolland said that love is the flame of life; Tagore said that love is a fulfilled life[^4^]. These descriptions showcase the diversity and profundity of love.
- Sociological Perspective: Love is a complex phenomenon influenced by social factors, combining physiological, psychological, and subjective emotions. Different eras, cultures, disciplines, and scholars have various understandings and definitions of love[^2^].
In summary, love is a multidimensional concept that encompasses both the depth and breadth of emotions, as well as discussions across multiple fields such as philosophy, psychology, culture, literature, and sociology.
Journey of the Heart#
What does the term "journey of the heart" really mean? Is it the process of thinking, the process of struggling, or the process of experiencing?
Note
The journey of the heart refers to the growth process of a person in thoughts, emotions, and mindset.
The journey of the heart typically involves an individual's inner world, including their thoughts, feelings, and psychological changes. This process is dynamic and develops over time and with personal experiences. It may be triggered by a series of events, such as life turning points, major decisions, or changes in interpersonal relationships. These events often prompt individuals to engage in self-reflection and reassess their values and life goals[^1^].
Each person's journey of the heart is unique, influenced by their background, experiences, and personality. For example, an artist's journey of the heart may be filled with the pursuit of beauty and challenges in the creative process, while a scientist's journey may focus more on exploring the unknown and solving complex problems. Regardless of the type of journey, they reflect how individuals interact with the world and seek meaning and direction in their inner lives.
I started to write by hand, what is love? In middle school or high school, driven by hormones, some defined it as deep affection being love, and light affection being liking. Our physics teacher was a fair-skinned and beautiful lady. Regarding the issue of early romance, her viewpoint was: love is a responsibility. It feels like a lifelong commitment. Not abandoning or giving up.
I was also pondering at that time. I gave an answer, changing my QQ name from "Blue Humor" to "Love is Life." I might have forgotten what I was thinking back then. Now recalling, it might relate to this poem: what you know will influence the decisions you make, even if it's just a poem.
Life is precious, love is even more valuable; if it's for freedom, both can be sacrificed. When I saw the title of Wang Xiaobo's book "Loving You is Like Loving Life," although I hadn't read his book before, it felt familiar. Just the name. I read part of the book but didn't finish it; I'll continue to look at it another day.
Love is life, essentially equating the two. The spirit of love exists only with the existence of life, or one side is vibrant while the other leaves some literary spirit, which can also be a spiritual connection.
If both sides do not exist, I previously thought spiritual connection was impossible. The existence of artificial intelligence might still happen. The equation is broken. When humanity perishes, binary codes will still contain loving words, audio, video, games, etc. Even artificial intelligence often listens to Jacky Cheung's song "If This Isn't Love." If there is still one human alive, they would definitely laugh at artificial intelligence. Yes, that isn't love.
Love is a psychological cocoon. This cocoon needs to be discovered deeply and fulfilled. When you are in love, you first peel away the silk of the other person's psychological cocoon. Understanding others is the prerequisite, and then understanding their clothing.
True love is freedom. If the person you love no longer loves you, there is a period of time or emotional adjustment. Then let go. Like raising birds, those who truly love birds will eventually place them in a cage, just a bigger cage. Because those artificially selected for their beautiful appearance are too likely to perish in the wild. If you release them, it might just lead to an early death.
However, in the face of death, all birds are equal. Perhaps this is also a broad sense of freedom and love.
Love is a learning process, an accumulation of life materials. Some materials only have a beginning, or you only see and feel the beginning. When you were a child in winter, your mother made you wear long underwear. You refused to wear it, and she wouldn't let you go out. When you wore it, you would find a secluded place to take it off and put it in your backpack. As you grew up, you gradually understood love, and also understood that children have strong vitality and indeed do not feel cold. When it gets cold, they will wear it themselves. Empathy, treating others as you wish to be treated, sometimes can be mistaken.
Love should make you braver after setbacks. Love should be affirming and persistent. Every single person must see through it. If you want to love, don't fear pain. Find someone you love deeply, someone you cherish, to bid farewell to being single. A passionate, infatuated, heartless, or unfeeling person may leave me scars. There are so many lonely people, but not many are happy. Don't let love pass by, leaving me single, singing love songs alone.
Love, like life, is full of vicissitudes, obstacles, and mundanity; it is the norm. The universe is the same, operating with or without rules, leading early humans to believe in a flat earth with stars fixed in a round dome. Those who dare to face the bleakness of life without giving up on living, who seek some meaning and sense of value, are the ones who truly understand love. Love needs to continue exploring. Always exploring.