I finally feel that I understand love. Love is most definately a dualistic process; giving and receiving.

Its a sad fact, but most people who say they are in love are not, instead they are just loving themselves. People like this are not feeling anything for the other person in the relationship; their own chosen partner. They are just reveling in their own selfish feelings.

When one partner is imparting love on the other, the recipient can mistakenly think this is an internal feeling. As such they are very wrong and this is a bad omen for the relationship. As long as this does not happen 100% of the time the relationship can survive, but it is not true love.

True love is a 100% giving affair, rather than a recieving one. To give someone all of your love is to love them truely.

To show someone that no matter what they do you will always be there for them and no matter what happens in life you will care for them, this is true love. The recieving part of this dualistic paring should be of no significance. While it is intoxicating and drug-like, it cannot, must not be understood as love. It is just a nice feeling, nothing more.

If one finds themselves being loved it should prompt that person to show love in return. Rather too often the case exists where one indulges in this warmth and generosity, one relishes and craves this feeling, one begins to expect it all the time.

In my experience it is rare to find a partnership where both participants truely love each other, but this does seem to be okay. Most partnerships don't understand true love so there is equal give and take on both sides.

However in a relationship where only one partner knows the truth, there is usually an "always give" and "always take" partnership. I'm not sure how you resolve this situation, or even if it needs fixing. However it seems that it is doomed. The taker will eventually get tired of the relationship and walk out on their partner.

If both partners understood true love then they would both make eachothers worlds such a better place to live. They would setup a positive feedback loop in their relationship and then anything could be accomplished by the pair of star crossed lovers.