What is "love?"

[Iceglobe_System]

(We're loveless, for context, but some of us are still curious!)

[red-night]

Baby don't hurt me, don't hurt me, no more... (I'm sorry I couldn't pass up the opportunity)

As far as I understand it, it is a strong attachment and desire to care for another person in your life. It can vary in intensity and manifestation, but the main factors typically remain the same.
When you love someone, you think about them even when they're not with you, and you feel happy when they are with you. You want them to be happy and well-taken-care-of, and different people express that urge in different ways.
Love can be toxic if it's too one-sided or if two people have a very different definition of how to take care of one another.
The only love I've ever experienced as an aromantic person (i.e. a person with little to no romantic interest in others) has been familial and platonic, so if an alloromantic (a person who does develop romantic interest) person has a better definition, listen to them! But I hope this helps clear things up a bit!

[ThunderPerfectWitchcraft]

@red-night Maternal and romantic love is identical when we only regard the organic processes involved in the brain, and I'm pretty sure it is the same for platonic love :). The main difference is what we - as free, thinking individuals make of the feeling. And this is where things get interesting, for there is a metaphysical concept of love that exceeds the empiric phenomenon - and I believe that it never means the same for two beings, but is still the only way two beings can ever find to each other within an utmost relative, and thus always subjective world. I'd argue that toxic love (for one-sided love can be non-toxic) is always a love that isn't directed towards the other, but really towards an image that isn't that of the other, but caused by the desires of the "loving" person.

[oro_junestar]

Love is so broad, it's hard to narrow down. Here's how I'd define it:
'A warm, joyful feeling that arises from the thought of a particular subject.'

Typically, love is thought of as an attachment between people, whether it be romantic, sexual, platonic, or familial. However, I think the love that is felt towards concepts or objects is equally worth celebrating.

I love art. This love of art keeps me going in life and pretty much shapes who I am as a person.
I love the Earth. This love for the world and the nature it contains makes me want to protect it any way I can.

I guess love motivates pretty much everything we do.