[QUOTE="pianist"]I have never believed that you can develop genuine love for a person without any contact beyond the internet. Affection, yes. A desire to learn more about a person that could lead to love in the right circumstances, yes. But there is just too much about a person that can not be adequately conveyed via the internet to develop love, and thus, I'd be lying if I said I had developed such feelings for any person I've met online, seeing as I haven't met any of them in person.DoHo
Define love. Love is different for everybody.
Indeed it is. I like the first dictionary definition of love - a profoundly tender, passionate affection for another person. But it is not the definition of love which is in question here, but rather the definition of 'profound' and 'passionate.' Many people say they are in love when they feel sexually attracted to a person and develop the subsequent feelings of attachment. They say they are in love because they are married. In an online setting, they say they are in love when they feel compelled to connect with a person on a daily basis. But in all these instances, the 'love' is more about receiving than it is about giving. They wish to experience gratification for themselves through interaction with the individual they love, and as such, it is not so much the individual they love as it is the experiences.
Profound, passionate affection is not about taking, but rather giving. Ask people in 'love' if they would sacrifice their own pleasure to provide it to someone else, and the TRUTHFUL response to that question will likely demonstrate whether the love is profound and passionate. Most anybody will answer yes to that question, but only in truly loving relationships would a person follow through, and in that respect, most people are lying to themselves when they answer yes. If you carefully inspect the nature of the interactions between people you know well who claim to be in love (or maybe even in your own relationships), maybe you'll see what I'm getting at here.
If both individuals in a relationship feel an impulsive need to provide fulfillment to their partner without expecting something in return, that is a loving relationship. That is also a kind of relationship you seldom encounter... but guess what - it's also one of the few kinds of relationships that remain fulfilling for their entire duration. I wonder why that is...
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