Love: whats its personal value and meaning too you.

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Love: whats its personal value and meaning too you.
and what does the opposite sex as a person mean too you concerning love.
(these are or can be separate questions.)
and please note if your male or female.

I'm male, and in simple terms I'd consider love to be the state of caring more about another person's happiness than your own.

Same. The feeling in your heart, and knowing that the other person feels the same about you is quite possibly the best feeling you can ever experience.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=nsCXZczTQXo

(I am cisgender female)

This is a topic I have pondered before.

There is more than one kind of love, like romantic love, platonic love, familial love, and there is this idea of a general love for humanity. Because all are described by the word "love" it is tempting to think that there must be some unifying similarity, although I am not totally certain of this (English, in any case, is ambiguous enough for me to be wrong). My inner philosopher would say, comparing the different kinds of love, that "love" is something akin to believing that the object of your affection deserves the best of everything (as "loving" someone seems to come with a desire to sacrifice yourself for them at least to some extent, and an aversion to disappointing or hurting them).

It's difficult to be certain though because the subtle meanings of emotional words can only be grasped by linguistic intuition which is not very objective. Different people seem to have different ideas of what "love" is, some are very idealistic (I am, by nature, skeptical of idealism, though not immune to it and I likely have an idealistic idea of love as well), some seem superficial and honestly horrible to my mind. How can anyone know for sure that they love someone with all of the contradictions and ambiguity?

How intense is "intense"? How deep is "deep"?

"Romantic" is problematic because it's definition references love and we are back in a circle!



"Affection" is a similarly problematic word when trying to be objective.

...

Nevertheless, I have some conception of what love "is" and is supposed to "feel" like.

Love would be a "sense" that the object of your affection is valuable and important, and their happiness and wellbeing enhances your own happiness and wellbeing.

Mutual love would -- ideally -- result in accompanying feelings of security and confidence as you each care about each others' happiness and wellbeing. Mutual care would result in a situation where you can count on each other and get through times of pain knowing that, regardless of the consequences, no one intended any harm and the relationship (whether romantic or platonic) is salvageable.

As for the "opposite sex", I'm pansexual so I'm not totally sure how to address it. Someone I love is someone I love, regardless of sex. I don't really understand exclusive attraction to a particular sex, I guess I just see the body as the vessel of the mind.

im female, and i believe love to be one of the most strongest words you can say. i have a boyfriend and i love him very much, i put him before myself in every way. i take great care of him if he is sick or injured, and every now and then i give him a little treat.

Types of love:

Eros – a passionate physical and emotional love based on aesthetic enjoyment; stereotype of romantic love.

Ludus – a love that is played as a game or sport; conquest.

Storge – an affectionate love that slowly develops from friendship, based on similarity.

Pragma – love that is driven by the head, not the heart; undemonstrative.

Mania – highly volatile love; obsession; fueled by low self-esteem.

Agape – selfless altruistic love; spiritual; motherly love.

Love is many things.