Defining Love

"Isn't love a beautiful goddamn liar?"
(The Paris Wife by Paula McLain)

What does it mean to love? How does one define such an experience?

    love
    /ləv/
noun
           : a feeling of a strong or constant affection for a person.
           : attraction that includes sexual desire: the strong affection felt by people who have a romantic relationship.
           : a person you love in a romantic way.
("love." Merriam-Webster)


Acknowledged for consistency in defining words in the English language and recognized for the validity of such definitions, the Merriam-Webster dictionary has defined the word "love in the simplest comprehensible form for the general public. I applaud their success in such a task as this, however even the Merriam-Webster Online Dictionary has failed in defining love itself. Although they have provided an apt and accurate description of the word, love is more than simply that; a word.
    
    What is love?
Love is many things; a word, a feeling, an experience, a simultaneous reason for living and dying. Love is a statement. Love is a subject of its own and subject to interpretation. Love is beautiful, dangerous, exciting, and dull. Love is self-destructive and self-sustaining.

    Where is love?
Everywhere. Nowhere. Love is where you leave it. Love is where you look for it. In the eyes of another. In the glow of a sunset.In the darkness of night and the light of day. In the gentle way a child is held. In the tender touch between lovers, and in the pained farewell of two who have temporarily shared the same path. Love is in the first hello, every good morning and goodnight, and every last goodbye.

    At its easiest Love is the hardest part of an individual's life. At its worst Love is a beautiful disaster. How peculiar it is to give our hearts to another in hopes that what we feel may be magnified in them.

So what is the definition of love itself?

    love
    /ləv/
unknown
           : love.