Well FallowEarth the first poem is not necessarily my philosophy but I thought you might enjoy it.
Love will teach us all things:
 but we must learn to win love;
 it is got with difficulty:
 it is a possession dearly brought with much labor and in long time;
 for one must love not sometimes only, for a passing moment, but always
I'm a little more in line with Johnny Cash's song I believe it was written by his wife June Carter Cash,
Love Is A Burning Thing
And It Makes A Fiery Ring
Bound By Wild Desire
I Fell Into A Ring Of Fire

Sequoia -- i like them both, for very different and similar reasons.  Different styles of speaking honestly.  I think love is one of those things we are reluctant to think about in depth, and even more so speak about in conversation.  But LOVE is a word that immediately pulls strings with each of us.  Thinking about it, trying to explain it, tries our understanding of this life and it pulls us away from our comfort zones.  A ring of fire indeed.


Roco -- thank you for your honesty!  My question to you, drawn from the above -- can love be learned?  Is it love that defines us, or us that defines love?  Is love that strong universal human common trait that draws us together, or is it some simple game that we play with each other / ourselves?  Is it something that is particular to pagans, or one type of belief or another, or is it universal?  Does the definition of love differ between creeds, races, ethnicities, upbringings, religions? 

Personally, I think there are many faces of love in our life, as you say, like facets of a diamond.  Love drives us, love moves us, love pains us, love holds us back.  Love is bigger than us, and our capacity to understand it is what defines us as human beings -- compassionate, forgiving, accepting human beings.  But is that what makes us human?  Are we strangers drifting in the chaotic unknown?  Or is there a common current that pulls us all together? 

Do you love me?

Ever driving on the highway -- divided, 4 lanes -- and you're groovin' in the fast lane past granddaddy puttin' along in his beat-up S#!tkicker pickup, and granny in her Lincoln Continental, and that student driver in the car with the dorky sign on top....only to find yourself behind Joe Shmoe F#@&in Dickwad doin' the same goddamn speed as the slowpokes in the right lane where he had no business moving from in the first place.  You ride damn near right up his tail pipe, but he doesn't budge his speed a lick, nor does he give any indication that he intends to get the outta the friggin way.  You don't want to pass him on the right (you know better, plus that's another pet peeve of yours), and you don't wanna lay on the horn and look like the jackass, so you just crawl along with your grill plastered to this prick's rear window, meanwhile calling him everything but a Christian.  I mean...WTF's with these people?  Were they born with a mental deficiency, or just a total disregard for common decency towards others???  I mean....F#@&!  Let's get with the F#@&IN program here!!