Love in its various forms acts as a major facilitator of interpersonal relationships and, owing to its central psychological importance, is one of the most common themes in the creative arts.
Some definitions
The English word love can have a variety of related but distinct meanings in different contexts. Often, other languages use multiple words to express some of the different concepts which English relies mainly on love to encapsulate; one example is the plurality of Greek words for "love". Cultural differences in conceptualizing love thus make it doubly difficult to establish any universal definition. American psychologist Zick Rubin try to define love by the psychometrics. His work states that three factors constitute love: attachment, caring and intimacy.
Although the nature or essence of love is a subject of frequent debate, different aspects of the word can be clarified by determining what isn't "love". As a general expression of positive sentiment (a stronger form of like), love is commonly contrasted with hate (or neutral apathy); as a less sexual and more emotionally intimate form of romantic attachment, love is commonly contrasted with lust; and as an interpersonal relationship with romantic overtones, love is commonly contrasted with friendship, though other definitions of the word love may be applied to close friendships in certain contexts. When discussed in the abstract, love usually refers to interpersonal love, an experience felt by a person for another person. Love often involves caring for or identifying with a person or thing, including oneself (cf. narcissism).
In addition to cross-cultural differences in understanding love, ideas about love have also changed greatly over time. Some historians date modern conceptions of romantic love to courtly Europe during or after the Middle Ages, though the prior existence of romantic attachments is attested by ancient love poetry. Because of the complex and abstract nature of love, discourse on love is commonly reduced to a thought-terminating cliché, and there are a number of common proverbs regarding love, from Virgil's "Love conquers all" to The Beatles' "All you need is love". Bertrand Russell describes love as a condition of "absolute value", as opposed to relative value. Theologian Thomas Jay Oord said that to love is to "act intentionally, in sympathetic response to others, to promote overall well-being".
A person can be said to love a country, principle, or goal if they value it greatly and are deeply committed to it. Similarly, compassionate outreach and volunteer workers' "love" of their cause may sometimes be borne not of interpersonal love, but impersonal love coupled with altruism and strong political convictions. People can also "love" material objects, animals, or activities if they invest themselves in bonding or otherwise identifying with that item. If sexual passion is also involved, this condition is called paraphilia
What is love?
If you want to create healthy relationship based on true love, you should first understand what love really is?Let's start with what Love isn't. These are things that absolutely don't have any connection to Love despite of what we are regular to believe and what is accepted in our society:
-Jealousy
-Fear to loose your partner
-Feeling of dependence or lack of power without some person
-Ability of someone to make us happy or suffer
-Necessity all the time to be next to your partner
-Worrying about and being emotionally mixed with her/him
-Desire to satisfy someone all the time
-Taking a responsibility, controlling
-Desire that someone belongs only to you...
All this is belong to Ego, the limited, scared, judging and reducing part which exists in every one of us.
So, if Love isn't all these things, so what is it?
The Love Is Freedom, the Freedom of being.
Let's try to understand what does it mean?
Person, who loves himself, is someone with totally self receiving. One who accept himself exactly as he is, without definitions, comparison with anybody else and judging.
It's a big mistake to think, that to love yourself is to think that you are beautiful, clever and talented in comparison to another people, and that's why you can be proud of yourself, and love yourself.
Real love doesn't need any reasons. It's unconditional. Without judgment, criticism of thoughts, feelings, behavior and appearance; without require to be someone you are not. Just allowing freedom of being, receiving yourself (or another) just as you are.
The same is when we are talking about loving another person. To love someone is to accept him just as he is, without requirement and expectation from him to become different; without controlling him and his life, without criticism and judgment, just receiving and totally freeing- unconditional love.
From high point of view love isn't just feeling to someone. It's our nature, universal essence. It's what we are experiencing when we at our center, in balance, when everything becomes one, and the Ego doesn't interrupt.
By developing self awareness anyone can achieve the condition of feeling love and beloved without any connection to what is going on outside.
Looking for love at any place, except inside you, will fail