First love always marks a person.
Love is a set of behaviors and attitudes that are selfless and unconditional and that manifest between beings who have the capacity to develop emotional intelligence. That is to say, it can only be experienced by human beings , although other species are also capable of establishing emotional connections , such as dogs, horses or dolphins.
There are many poets, singers or philosophers who have shared their own view of the concept, whose etymological origin is found in the Latin love . Being such an abstract and complex topic, it is difficult to establish a precise definition of love .
For example: "Dante confessed to me that he feels great love for my sister" , "I assure you that this is the best demonstration of love you can give me" , "No couple can survive without love" , "The love between a father and "Your son is incomparable."
Different types of love
In everyday language, love is usually directly associated with romantic love , which involves a passionate relationship between two people. However, the term can be applied to other types of relationships, such as family love , platonic love and other broader meanings (love of God or love of nature). In all cases, love represents a feeling of great affection.
Thus we could list a series of sentences that serve as examples of the various types of love: "Juan and Lucía married for love" , "Isabel's gaze towards her son was a sign of the pride and motherly love she felt", "Manuel wanted to enter the seminary to start working as a priest as a sign of his love for God."
The so-called true love is related to unconditional love or eternal love . It is understood that this bond, in which feelings and emotions such as adoration, attraction, kindness and happiness appear, is not broken nor has an end. When two people present themselves as soul mates and the compatibility or complementarity is perfect, a breakup , separation or divorce is not contemplated.
In these cases, it is often believed that respect and loyalty are inherent to the relationship and that any inconveniences can be overcome with patience. It is assumed that those who know true love would not commit infidelity since theoretically there is no room for betrayal .
We talk about love at first sight , meanwhile, to name instant falling in love. Flirting or flirting, in this way, does not take long to appear. If self-love is referred to, on the other hand, reference is made to self-esteem.
The love of a couple can lead to the organization of a romantic dinner and other types of dates.
Beyond biology
Love is not a biological concept nor is it limited to chemistry. Various expressions related to love, both in humans and in other species, are not related to survival . In this way, we can mention sexual relations without reproductive purposes and altruistic behaviors.
It should be noted, in any case, that different scientific studies have found correlative links between the amount of hormones (dopamine, serotonin, etc.) present in the body and the states that are classified as loving (passion, carnal desire, etc.).
In this sense, it should be noted that this explanation would be closely related to the idea that "love is blind." And it seems that the revolution that our hormones experience and the sensations that they make us experience when we are with the person we have fallen in love with do not allow us to see reality in terms of, for example, what our life is like. partner or the relationship we are living.
When there is love between two individuals, shared dreams usually arise.
Manifestations and rituals linked to love
It is important to emphasize that the manifestations of love differ depending on the bond. In a friendship , to mention one case, love is reflected in a hug or a kiss on the cheek, but not in a passionate kiss. Caresses, likewise, are frequent in a courtship but not in the affection that two coworkers who get along very well can share.
It is also interesting to mention that, many times, love is expressed or shown in different rituals. The engagement ring, celebrating a wedding, taking a honeymoon trip, celebrating an anniversary and giving flowers or some jewelry on Valentine's Day are actions that obey matters of the heart .
A love song or a love letter, likewise, are vehicles that enable the manifestation of the feelings associated with this type of encounter between people.
The view of psychology
From psychology , Robert J. Sternberg has pointed out three components of love: intimacy (those feelings that promote rapprochement), passion (a strong desire for union) and commitment (to preserve and reproduce love).
Finally we have to emphasize that we currently use a high number of expressions that use the term love as an integral part. Among them would be the notion of free love , which is one in which the people who live it do not impose any sentimental attachment or commitment on themselves because basically what they do is enjoy the sexual relationships they have.