What is love actually?

Most people who claim to love someone don’t really love them, because they don’t know what love actually is.

What is love NOT?

Possessiveness is not love
Jealousy is not love
Lust is not love
Fear is not love
Keeping people all to yourself is not love
Expecting something from someone is not love

Real love is unconditional. All other “forms” of love are not really love. Most parents and kids don’t love each other, most people in relationships don’t
love each other, most people on the planet never experience unconditional love in their entire lives… or at least it sure looks that way.

To love someone unconditionally means that you love the person exactly as they are, exactly as they were before, and exactly as they will be in the future
– because people change all the time, so if you love the person, you will love them even if they become something you disagree with. How many parents can
say that about their kids? How many people can say that about their “lover”? Love is not about you or your pleasure or your amusement. It’s not about what
you get out of it or what the other person can give to you. It’s not about having a trophy you can show off with and tell people “This is *MY* girlfriend/boyfriend/wife/husband/son/daughter/whatever”.
You do not “own” anyone. It’s not about you feeling ‘proud’ to be with someone who always agrees with everything you say and do and never does anything
you disagree with. Unconditional love means that the person can just live their life exactly as they choose and you will always be there for them no matter
what.

So, how does unconditional love fit in with relationships and marriage and sex and all that stuff the whole world keeps going crazy over? It doesn’t, really.
It doesn’t “fit” in anywhere. Relationships are like trying to put love into a box and keep it there, except love is infinitely sized, and the box is…
well, there is no box large enough. And a normal, conventional marriage is quite possibly the worst possible way to show someone how much you love them.

Unconditional love is more of a spiritual thing. It’s not bound by physical things, like blood relations and the desire to procreate. It has nothing whatsoever
to do with sex. Most people are in relationships because they’re horny and/or lonely, even if they genuinely think they love the other person. But if the
person they “love” suddenly lost their “equipment” for whatever reason, would they still want to be with that person? Would they get jealous if the person
they “love” wanted to spend time with other people as well? Relationships based on needs are not unconditional.

In order to truly understand love, you must first forget everything you have ever learned about it from society and anyone else (including what I just said).
You are the only person who can tell you what love is. The only reason I’m writing all this stuff is because people always try to fit “love” in with things
like dating, relationships and marriage and all that. You can’t make any sense of it if you keep doing that. You have to get rid of everything you think
you know first.