I found this excerpt from the July 2009 issue of Runner's World magazine in a Q&A section called "Ask Miles":
"Dear Miles,
How do I know if I've experienced the runner's high?
Katie D., - New Albany, IN
That's like asking how you know if you're in love. You just know if you're in love. You just know. A cocoon of warmth and well-being surrounds you. Pain and discomfort subside. You smile involuntarily. (I'm talking about love and the runner's high, by the way.) The runner's high is like love in another sense: Sometimes the best way to find it is to stop looking so hard. So, just keep running. Maybe the runner's high will find you."
This is a great quote to lead us into Part 2 of the quest to find out "What is Love?"
For those of you who have never experienced a "runner's high", all I can say is that it is quite magical, almost indescribable. I have experienced it several times. It is usually brought on by a very strenuous workout. After a certain point of pain, my body began to feel like nothing. No pain, no comfort. My body felt overall, just wobbly. Everything became funny to me; I couldn't stop smiling and laughing, and making an ass out of myself. I did not care. I had a slight feeling of light-headedness, perhaps dizziness. Stuff seemed to move so fast around me. And as the workout continued, I felt like nothing could stop me, I didn't even feel tired. About 10 minutes after the workout ended, the feeling of bliss went away and my legs started to realize what I had done to them.
Getting back to the similarities between Love and the runner's high...
Miles says in the first half of his answer that, "You just know if you're in love." The part that intrigues me is the "in" part. I can be IN a building. I can be IN my clothes. I can be IN a tree. But how can I be IN love? Is love a place? Or is love a state of being or existence? If love is a place, give me a one-way ticket ASAP. If love is a state of being, then how do I attain that state?
From Part 1, I wrote that love is the "The will to extend one's self for the purpose of nurturing one's own or another's spiritual growth". Clearly here, Love is used as a verb, not a noun. Can love be more than one part of speech; a verb and a noun; an action and a thing? We need some more work on how Love is a noun (or thing).
A noun is a person, place, thing, or idea (if you remember from elementary school English class). Love as a person might be hard to define. Love as a place is debatable, but relative. (This would require religious debate; i.e Heaven). Love as a thing might be tricky. Now, Love as an idea, this could be interesting...
Imagine the first person to realize this noun we call "Love". Did he or she "love" another person, or some other thing? What this person was thinking is an idea, the idea of love. Now since he/she thought of it, does this mean it is a strictly human creation? Or is Love one of those things that always was and always will be, like infinity or God? Or is love one of the characteristics of the idea that is humanity? If that were true, then only humans could have the capacity to love. (I sure do ask a lot of questions and not really answer them, haha) I have heard that the brain releases chemicals or hormones when a person experiences love and it makes them feel good. If this is the case, then why don't we all just try to love more, so we can all be happy, haha.
Now onto the second part of what Miles said, "Sometimes the best way to find it is to stop looking so hard". If something is capable of being found, then clearly it is a noun. The only troubling thing about that statement is the "stop looking so hard" part. It makes us feel not only incapable of finding it through our own will but also it makes us feel even more sad when we don't have it (as if it were a thing to be possessed). People who are used to achieving things on their own behalf might find it difficult to just lay back and wait for it to hit you in the face. Because remember, "you just know if you're in love".
I realize that there are way more questions than answers in this edition of "What is Love?" but hopefully this will spark a "Train of Thought (another Dream Theater reference) of your own to help continue the quest. Continue learning to love and stay tuned for round three!
"Dear Miles,
How do I know if I've experienced the runner's high?
Katie D., - New Albany, IN
That's like asking how you know if you're in love. You just know if you're in love. You just know. A cocoon of warmth and well-being surrounds you. Pain and discomfort subside. You smile involuntarily. (I'm talking about love and the runner's high, by the way.) The runner's high is like love in another sense: Sometimes the best way to find it is to stop looking so hard. So, just keep running. Maybe the runner's high will find you."
This is a great quote to lead us into Part 2 of the quest to find out "What is Love?"
For those of you who have never experienced a "runner's high", all I can say is that it is quite magical, almost indescribable. I have experienced it several times. It is usually brought on by a very strenuous workout. After a certain point of pain, my body began to feel like nothing. No pain, no comfort. My body felt overall, just wobbly. Everything became funny to me; I couldn't stop smiling and laughing, and making an ass out of myself. I did not care. I had a slight feeling of light-headedness, perhaps dizziness. Stuff seemed to move so fast around me. And as the workout continued, I felt like nothing could stop me, I didn't even feel tired. About 10 minutes after the workout ended, the feeling of bliss went away and my legs started to realize what I had done to them.
Getting back to the similarities between Love and the runner's high...
Miles says in the first half of his answer that, "You just know if you're in love." The part that intrigues me is the "in" part. I can be IN a building. I can be IN my clothes. I can be IN a tree. But how can I be IN love? Is love a place? Or is love a state of being or existence? If love is a place, give me a one-way ticket ASAP. If love is a state of being, then how do I attain that state?
From Part 1, I wrote that love is the "The will to extend one's self for the purpose of nurturing one's own or another's spiritual growth". Clearly here, Love is used as a verb, not a noun. Can love be more than one part of speech; a verb and a noun; an action and a thing? We need some more work on how Love is a noun (or thing).
A noun is a person, place, thing, or idea (if you remember from elementary school English class). Love as a person might be hard to define. Love as a place is debatable, but relative. (This would require religious debate; i.e Heaven). Love as a thing might be tricky. Now, Love as an idea, this could be interesting...
Imagine the first person to realize this noun we call "Love". Did he or she "love" another person, or some other thing? What this person was thinking is an idea, the idea of love. Now since he/she thought of it, does this mean it is a strictly human creation? Or is Love one of those things that always was and always will be, like infinity or God? Or is love one of the characteristics of the idea that is humanity? If that were true, then only humans could have the capacity to love. (I sure do ask a lot of questions and not really answer them, haha) I have heard that the brain releases chemicals or hormones when a person experiences love and it makes them feel good. If this is the case, then why don't we all just try to love more, so we can all be happy, haha.
Now onto the second part of what Miles said, "Sometimes the best way to find it is to stop looking so hard". If something is capable of being found, then clearly it is a noun. The only troubling thing about that statement is the "stop looking so hard" part. It makes us feel not only incapable of finding it through our own will but also it makes us feel even more sad when we don't have it (as if it were a thing to be possessed). People who are used to achieving things on their own behalf might find it difficult to just lay back and wait for it to hit you in the face. Because remember, "you just know if you're in love".
I realize that there are way more questions than answers in this edition of "What is Love?" but hopefully this will spark a "Train of Thought (another Dream Theater reference) of your own to help continue the quest. Continue learning to love and stay tuned for round three!