Love is a combination of respect, admiration, and passion. Not sexual passion, though that would come into any romantic relationship, but a different sort of passion. It�s the kind of passion that prevents love from being a passive emotion � feeling it necessitates action. Their strengths matter to you, their weaknesses matter to you � they matter to you. When they succeed you feel their joy, when they fail you feel their disappointment. Their goals become your goals. But empathy is only the prerequisite to passion; not only must you be able to understand them, you must contribute to who they are becoming.

Love is not blind. It doesn�t make faults irrelevant; it doesn�t ignore circumstance. It�s based on a firm knowledge of character and background, since background will always be part of what defines us. Love doesn�t lead us to make excuses, it leads us to help change that which is undesirable.

Love isn�t objective or nonparticipatory � it�s impossible not to interfere. Where there�s passion, there ceases to be objectivity. Everything matters, so remaining apart from a situation is impossible. Similarly, there is no way to avoid being a participant in every part of their life. Whether it�s because they know you�ll be there to support them or even if you get more actively involved, every event connects to you.

Love is momentarily unconditional, but must be perpetually earned. In each experience a person is redefined � their fundamental character may not change, but who they are does. Love for a person in one moment doesn�t assume love for the person in the next � only individuals of compatible characters who remain true to that core while changing in parallel can retain love. Outside influences can�t be kept outside the relationship � they must be permitted to affect both people similarly or love will fragment.

Love directs actions, but doesn�t control them. In love, there is one overriding goal � the benefit of the other individual. A strong person will retain their own self while working towards it, a weaker one will let it consume them or refuse it until love dissolves. But while that goal is a constant, there is infinite choice in how it is achieved. Action is not controlled by emotion, merely the intended end.

There are no degrees of love. The only difference in one feeling of love and another is how they�re manifested: how we react to the circumstances surrounding the feeling.

Love is reciprocal. At the point that it�s unrequited, or even requited in a different manner, it ceases to be love and becomes delusion. When you don�t influence one another�s lives or feel the same sort of respect, admiration and passion for one another, then your love will disintegrate because it�s not constantly redefined or it will continue to exist for an illusion that you perceive to be a true person. Love for an illusion is nothing but an illusion.