definitions?

a subject of recent preoccupation. love.

i must admit. i am a creature of simple pleasures. one of the simplest pleasures i've oftened indulged in is the pleasure of loving. i love liberally.

recently, this subject has caused me to lose some sleep. how liberally do we love? how liberally can we love? how much affection can we pour on objects of affections in our lives that the very sanctity of the word-love- becomes lost in the crossroads between appreciation, adoration, affection and admitting to being in love.

i looked it up.

affections (plural, noun) : feelings of liking or love

what is feelings of liking or love?

love (LIKE SOMEONE) verb [T] to have strong feelings of affection for another adult and be romantically and sexually attracted to them, or to feel great affection for a friend or person in your family

love noun 1 [U] strong feelings of attraction towards, and affection for, another adult, or great affection for a friend or family member:2 [C] a person that you love and feel attracted to

like (ENJOY) verb [T] 1 to enjoy or approve of something or someone:

a creature of habit. a creature of affection. and i find the definition of affection and love entwined in a neverending loop that doesn't answer the question. where doth the line begin and end that separates the two. affection is to have feelings of like or love. but to love is to have strong affections which could be like or love. and what a thin line that demarcates the boundaries between the two.

i think. i've over simplified the emotion. in loving liberally i've reduced the sanctity of that meaning. i admit to loving when perhaps it is just something much reduced and in showing affection based on often indistinguishable traits of like or love. i've confused. perhaps even misled. not just the objects of affection. but sometimes myself.

Sometimes when you look back on a situation, you realize it wasn't all you thought it was. A beautiful girl walked into your life. You fell in love. Or did you? Maybe it was only a childish infatuation, or maybe just a brief moment of vanity.
Henry Bromel, Northern Exposure, The Big Kiss, 1991

but it isn't about definitions is it?

There is always some madness in love. But there is also always some reason in madness.
Friedrich Nietzsche (1844 - 1900), "On Reading and Writing"

i am a creature of habit. lessons may have been learnt. but alterations will not mend my set ways. i doubt i will every stop loving liberally. i know only to love and to open my heart to all.

Love all, trust a few. Do wrong to none.
William Shakespeare (1564 - 1616)

the trick though is the latter.

To my dearest dearest jagi. confusions aside. deep down inside. i know. so what if tomorrow i wake to realisations of childish infatuations or brief moments of vanity. it is in this moment that i live. this heartbeat of memories that go on forever. that it should always be like this.

to the moon and back. and even further. nel chigum chorom.