What does it really mean when one says, "I Love you"?

Love - One word, different emotions. For some the word love brings smiles, for some tears, for some suffering, for some cheating, for some sex, for some romance, for some advantage and so on.

Each one of us has definitely experienced the so-called love in one form or another, but do we actually know what love is?

All the time I searched for the love of my life. I wanted to be loved badly. But, I was rejected by 25 girls till date, and accepted by none.

I remember getting hurt and sobbing sometimes for days and months whenever I got rejected. But, in retrospection, I realize that I actually never loved any one of them, but wanted someone just to give me company and fill the space in my life; To complete me. I proposed to each one of those girls just because I was feeling lonely, and because all my friends had girlfriends and seeing their love made feel like I was missing something in life.

Now, I understand things that I don't want to accept even though they are clearly very true. Let me share my views on love after days of thinking and listening to many self-proclaimed enlightened being teaching what love is.

What we call love is mostly dependency. When you say you love someone so much that you can't live without them, it means that you are dependent on that person. You are getting something from that person, hence you want to be with them. What if you get that same thing from a different person? Can you not live without the person who you thought you can't live without?

Humans always feel they are incomplete and look for something to complete them. We all crave something in life, no matter what we have and what we get, we always miss something. Be it care, affection, sympathy, empathy, money, romance, confidence, success, sex, assurance, etc. When we find someone who gives us that missing something, and when they make us feel good about ourselves, we feel complete and think we love them. The opposite person may also be expecting something from you, and rarely they don't. This is just two incomplete people coming together and filling voids in each other's lives. I fail to understand where the love is between them. It's just a transaction between 2 people with mutual benefits.

This applies for every relationship. Love can't exist when there are expectations. Is it love if parents raise their children hoping they'll take care of them in their old age? Is it love when a boy says he can't live without the girl he thinks he is in love with? Is it love when you pray for God thinking he will take care of you? Is it love when you help others believing doing good will bring something good to you?

We all use the name love so conveniently to exploit others.

I think love can only exist when 2 complete individuals come together without any expectations. Because, every man/woman is complete by themself, and doesn't need someone else to complete them.

You can't love anyone or anything until and unless you totally accept the way you are and feel complete.

Can you all actually ask yourselves what is it that you are expecting from every person you think you love and if you can love them without those expectations?