Pag-ibig?

One night at a barbershop. Me was reading a book and He was waiting for his head to be shaved:

Me: Do you think it's possible for somebody to love everybody?

He: I think, it's possible. But I don't know anyone... Even Jesus got angry when He saw the church turned into  a marketplace... I guess, Buddha loved everybody. But that's because he tried to understand everybody. But, what is love? Is it not just a concept invented by humans? What is love?

Me: (confused and caught off-guard) Love... is... giving?       

That time, He is Me's mirror image. He's questions are Me's questions verbalized by He. No, I'm not schizophrenic. He is a real person. Ask the barbershop.

Below are the quotations I got from the books (and others) that life threw at me so I can get answers to He's question. Agree or disagree with them, feel free to share your thoughts.

Define LOVE. 

Love is a profoundly tender, passionate affection for another person. (Dictionary.com)

Love is blind. (Autograph Pad)

Love is like a rosary, full of mysteries. (Autograph Pad)

God is love. (Jeepney sticker)

 LOVE is spelled as T-I-M-E. (TV commercial)

The POWER of LOVE.

Muscle can split a shield and even destroy life, but only the unseen power of love can open the hearts of men. (Og Mandino)

O, pag-ibig na makapangyarihan, pag nasok sa puso ninuman, hahamakin ang lahat, masunod ka lamang! (Balagtas, Florante at Laura)

Hatred ceases by love. This is an eternal law. (Buddha) 

Love conquers all. (Virgil) 

Finding/ Not Finding LOVE.

To get love, you must first give it. To make sure that another person loves you unconditionally, you must place no conditions upon him or her.  To learn to love another, you must first love yourself. (Deepak Chopra)

How easy it is to miss love when it comes. Either something so distracts us, or we have so completely lost touch of who we are and what we care about that we cannot recognize our heart's desire. (Francis J. Kong)

Love cannot be achieved by effort. (Deepak Chopra)

Usually we are searching for someone either to reflect our own self-images or to repair them... There is an underlying sense of need. Feeling incomplete in yourself, you try to bolster your lack through someone else. (Deepak Chopra)

Falling In-LOVE.

One day after you have gotten over this restless fever, you will see a small light in your heart. At first it will be the size of a spark, then a candle flame, finally a raging bonfire. Then you will wake up, and the flame will devour the sun, moon, and stars. At that moment there will be nothing but love in the cosmos, yet all of it will still be inside your own heart. (Deepak Chopra)

What LOVE is/should BE.

Intense love does not measure, it just gives. (Mother Teresa)

Love gives naught but itself and takes naught but from itself. Love possesses not nor would it be possessed; for love is sufficient unto love. (Kahlil Gibran)

How do we love? Not in big things, but in small things with great love. (Mother Teresa)

We know that if we really want to love we must learn to forgive. (Mother Teresa) 

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, always perseveres. (The Bible,1 Corinthians 13: 4-7)

What LOVING should NOT be.

The kind of love that is attached to another person is really about yourself, because what keeps it going isn't what is real in the beloved but something far more binding-- your own need to possess. (Deepak Chopra)

The Challenge of LOVE.

When love beckons to you, follow him, though his ways are hard and steep. And when his wings enfold you to yield to him, though the sword hidden among his pinions may wound you. And when he speaks to you believe in him. Though his voice may shatter your dreams as the north wind lays waste the garden. For even as love crowns you so shall he crucify you. Even as he is for your growth, so is he for your pruning. (Kahlil Gibran) 

If you love those who love you, what is the reward in that? (The Bible, Matthew 5:46) 

The mechanics.

To receive love it must be given with no thought of its return. To love for fulfillment, satisfaction, or pride is no love. Love is a gift on which no return is demanded. Now you know that to love unselfishly is its own reward. And even should love not be returned it is not lost, for love not reciprocated will flow back to you and soften and purify your heart. (Og Mandino)

Final words.

Eventually you will come to understand that love heals everything, and love is all there is.            (Gary Zukav)

Then.

It takes a thousand minds to explain what love is... but only a single heart to know.                  (B. via SMS 06.04.2011) 

I rest my case.

My Resources

-verna