Another point: If we are talking Maslow, then I would suggest that love is one of the hierarchy of needs. Maslow doesn't talk about love on his pyramid (
http://psychology.about.com/od/theoriesofpersonality/a/hierarchyneeds.htm) but I think it goes somewhere in with physiological needs/security needs personally. Of course I have no idea, I am flying on the seat of my pants here, but to me it is at the very base somewhere of how I function.
If what I am saying is the case then I would suggest that some people struggle to be able to function because their needs are not met in terms of receiving the love that they need. Maybe this is a definition of love thing, but it seems to me that we are brought up these days, most of us, with a roof over our head and food and water, most of the basic needs met. Sometimes to access. Some people live in overly large houses and eat way too much... blah blah blah,,, but ... it seems that societially we are creating ways to destroy loving one another which means that perhaps our need fo one another is more obvious: be it by not communicating efficiently, by maintaining a facade that to the outside world that looks like we are really "together" on things with our partners, by being too busy to spend time together, by trying to find our needs met in cheating/affairs, whatever.
Just as I said in my thread intro, we quite often are told that we are not to need each other and let each other love one another. I think it's perfectly okay to need each other, we are social creatures and need to feel wrapped in love in order to help us function properly. We need to give love also. Not just in terms of poly relationships, but in terms of loving the world in whatever way we can.
I watched the little drummer boy tonight with my son. That old one from my childhood where the drummer boy follows the star and takes his lame lamb to the kings to see if they will help him... they can't but say that he should look at the baby in the manger as he is the king of kings... the drummer boy feels inadequate as he has no grand gifts, but plays his drum instead. I told my son that he was playing his drum because that is what he is good at and that that is all that is required in life is to be everything we are and we will receive love and joy from it and be able to give that to the world. The lamb is healed and his heart is filled with joy.
The baby Jesus, and I'm sorry to use him as I know that a lot of people aren't into that, but as an example, is a symbol of pure love and what love can do to change the world, in my view.... the drummer boy and his lamb is a symbol of a boy with hurt, pain, poverty.... etc... he
needed some pure love in order to be able to function in the world. In order to be healed in the form of his lamb being healed.
It seems that many people loose sight of this message.
I didn't actually see the little drummer boy before I wrote this thread, but it has something to do with it for me.