In this previous post, I asked my lovely readers to ask me questions for each of six topics:

1. Friends (answered here)
2. Sex (answered here)
3. Music (answered here)
4. Religion (answered here)
5. Love
6. Blogging

This post contains the answers for the questions that were asked under the “Love” category. Which had a lot of questions asked, more than the “Sex” category (I think)!

LOVE

What food do you absolutely love?

— Dale Who

Hot dogs. The cheap ones that are like 88 cents a pack. On an untoasted bun. With regular mustard.

What is something that you love (have passion for)?

— Jim

Obviously there’s the Husbear. And most technology that makes my life easier. I would say my art, but most of the time it’s more client-driven than personal, so it’s not really “my” art.

On love: How many great loves do you think a man deserves?

— Nik_TheGreek

Every person deserves a lifetime of them, be that one or a plethora of them.

Do you believe in love?

— Cubby

When I read your questions, a song by the Dixie Chicks went through my mind, so I’ll go with this as the answer:

Do you feel that romantic love is for everyone or only a select few?

— Richard

I think it’s possible for everyone. But I don’t think that it’s something every person necessarily wants.

Who has loved you the most?

— Urspo

My Husbear.

Do you have “one that got away?” and if so, have you since bought better handcuffs? (j/k)

— John

There was one individual who, in the time pre-Husbear, I would have liked to have had a deeper relationship with. But it didn’t happen. And I didn’t pursue it. And I’m entirely okay with that today.

Do you as a gay man think there are different kinds of love, and that you can love some or many others in different ways simultaneously?

— Will

I think—as a human—there are different kinds of love. One of the (many) things I fault about the English language is the lack of descriptive words for “love” like so many other languages have. Take Greek, for instance. There are at least five different words for love (four of them listed here) with each having a distinct meaning. Yes, we use other adjectives paired with the word in an attempt to describe love. But I think the word “love” itself is rather lacking.

That said, I think there are many different ways to love many different people at the same time.

Do you think you can successfully love more than one person at the same time?

— cb

Per the above answer, I think I can and do love several people at the same time, but in different ways of love.

But if you mean in the sense of agape love (as referenced in the link above), for me I think that’s only possible for one person at a time.

Do you believe love is an act, decision, emotion or all three? What constitutes “true love” in your mind and do you think that people ever experience the same kind of love as others do or do you think love is an individual and unique experience for each of us, much like “no two snowflakes are the same.” Piggy-backing on CB’s question above, do you think “true love” can be had for more than one person at a time? If marriage were abolished and people were encouraged to experience and enjoy sex with others without shame or hesitancy as their natural urges dictated, do you think love would become obsolete or do you think people would still naturally pair up, some for life, even without the societal pressure, support and encouragement to do so?

— Sean

“Do you believe love is an act, decision, emotion or all three?”

I believe love can and does consist of all three. And I personally think love isn’t love without having all three.

“What constitutes ‘true love’ in your mind…”

For me, “true love” is agape love (see above answer).

“…and do you think that people ever experience the same kind of love as others do or do you think love is an individual and unique experience for each of us, much like ‘no two snowflakes are the same.'”

I think the concept of love is similar, but I think the actual experience is distinct for each individual.

“…do you think ‘true love’ can be had for more than one person at a time?”

I think it’s possible, but I don’t think it’s possible for me.

“If marriage were abolished and people were encouraged to experience and enjoy sex with others without shame or hesitancy as their natural urges dictated, do you think love would become obsolete or do you think people would still naturally pair up, some for life, even without the societal pressure, support and encouragement to do so?”

I don’t know that marriage should be abolished, but I do think divorce should be. I think that would stop people from marrying for the most part.

And I’m not sure if people would pair up or group up. But I think there would be some sort of groupings that would occur.

What stupid things have you done for love? These could be trivial things, or these could be humongous life-lessons.

— Raybob

I guess it really depends on the definition of “stupid”. In the long ago I would have changed how I am for the love of another. That seems pretty humongous now that I look at it. I’m sure I’ve done lots of small little stupid things, but none of the come to mind. I’ve probably blocked those memories, or they didn’t bother me enough that they’ve slipped into the far recesses of my mind.