By Juliet O

You Zooskers are a romantic bunch. We recently posed the question on our community pages, “What is your definition of love?” The responses we received were varied and astute — and simultaneously romantic and accurate.

Love, by its very nature, is almost impossible to define. Even geniuses like Albert Einstein admit their bafflement when it comes to explaining this emotional phenomenon. Love appears to resist our ability to rationalize it, as well as our attempts to tie it down to any unified definition. “How on earth are you ever going to explain in terms of chemistry and physics so important a biological phenomenon as first love?” asked Einstein. We don’t know either, Einstein. However, in finding love within our own lives and in choosing to participate in the act of loving, we attempt to explain love by our behaviors that characterize this emotion — one that exists within the mysterious shrouds of subjectivity. We all express and experience love differently, and it was interesting hearing your individual perceptions, lovely Zooskers, of this singular, exquisite emotion.

“Love is a choice. Once the chemistry and lust fades away we make a choice whether we’re in it for the long haul or not. It doesn’t sound romantic, but that is how I see it.” –Mz J

“If you can be romantic with someone for many years in a row, who you have seen at their absolute worst, and still wake up to their morning breath, and manage to overlook it… that is true love to me.” –Ms Independent

“It requires devotion, surrender of the self, and putting yourself in last place. If you are loved back you will find yourself in first place.” –MarathonMan

“I think it’s a whole bunch of stuff all rolled into a goofy feeling that you can’t write down. It’s that feeling you get inside from just the thought of that person. Everyone has their own thoughts on what love is, yet it probably all means the same thing.” –Alex

“Love comes at you in a form that is unexplainable but can be express easily as if you were just a child again. But over all, you know you have it when nothing that that person does (minor flaws and all) can change your mind about them… ever. It is something that everyone (making the sick, healthy. The old, young. The weak, strong. Vice Versa) can easily attain and yet so very elusive in our current world. That’s my definition of Love.” –Latin

“Lust is the excitement. Love is the lingering warmth.” –Rayneman

“The only love I have ever felt is the love for my sons. You want to protect them, support them, make sure they feel no pain that is within your control, provide for them, be there for them, let them know you mean the world to them and they mean the world to you. I guess in retrospect if you could apply that feeling to someone you want to make your life with, that would be my definition of love.” –Christopher

“For me, love is built off of trust.” –Brandon

“Your life is incomplete when the one you love is away. You would do anything to protect them or to make them happy. When I think of love, I think of a couple sitting by the ocean holding hands and kissing. The feeling of love is ‘that can’t eat cant sleep reach for the stars world series kinda stuff’. You will know the real meaning of love when you fall in love.” –Yollie

“Love is when your heart seems to want to exit from your chest when you think about the wonderful woman who gives again a meaning to your life.” –Syl

“For me it is when your main desire is to fulfill their expectations, to keep them warm when it is cold, to keep them safe from danger, to wipe away their tears when they are sad, you can tell them anything and everything, they are your best friend, your lover, your confidant, all in one amazing package that you would literally do anything for.” –Rick

“I don’t think we get to choose who we fall in love with. It just happens, and when its meant to happen it does. Love is when your head over heels and feel incomplete or lost when you are apart from your other half. Life as you know it changes forever.” –Shell

“To me, love is a unique combination of joy and misery. It grows with familiarity. The more you know, the more you want to know.” –Delli K

“I don’t think many people actually know or realize what true love is. For me love is doing things for another expecting nothing in return except the joy it brings.” –Irishandy

“It is the appreciation of gentle touches to the lower back while walking, and affectionately playing with your hair. Love is a balance of good and bad. The ability to communicate, forgive, trust, and grow together.” –Candie

“I don’t pretend to know what love is for everyone, but I can tell you what it is for me, love is knowing all about someone and still wanting to be with them more than any other person. Love is trusting them enough to tell them everything about yourself, including the things you might be ashamed of. Love is feeling comfortable and safe with someone, but still getting weak knees when they walk into a room and smile at you.” –Classicrockfan

“Love is not just a feeling, it is an act. It’s the act of love that is more important than the feeling itself.” –Rianne

“Love is the universe.” –Walltowallchels

“Love is something that is deep-seeded inside when it’s found. Regardless of how a person may appear to react towards another person, even if it is not necessarily ‘nice’, they can love that person regardless of circumstance. Although I’m divorced, I will always love my ex-wife because my feelings were real when we married.” –Ruditchka

“For me, I would say when you’re in love with someone, they provide the missing piece in your life. Being with them is like standing on the top of the world, and being without them is like having teeth pulled. I believe that once you have taken that leap by falling in love with another person, there is no going back. It’s a journey. When people say they have “fallen out of love” with someone, I don’t believe their heart has taken a step backwards, I think it has taken a jump forwards, and possibly found that the other person has become more of a best friend than a lover. But once you have loved someone, they will occupy a place in your heart forever.” –Jenna

“Love is true belief of knowing you can unconditionally accept a person for who they are, were, and will be. No matter what they have done, is doing, or will do. But I do believe love is a period between two peoples’ lives that can expire or last their life time, depending on the changes one is going through with the new experiences life has to offer.” –PhonZ

For more great input from our Zooskers on love, relationships, and online dating, check out our Zoosk Community Forums.

photo credit: candida.performa