The word "love" is describing an emotion; i.e., a state of mind..
Ok......So, when confronted with the injunction to "Love thine enemy"...what would be the "state of mind"?
After all he is my "enemy", wishes me harm, possibly mortal harm and I in turn may feel likewise to him.
Is this invitation/injunction to 'love' an invitation to an "emotion"? The same kind of emotion I feel towards my wife/children?
I ask the question because I suspect the very notion "Love thine enemy" indicates that love may not be (exclusively) "describing an emotion" or even as best definition "describing an emotion".
Love may indeed be a "a state of mind"...but it may be, at its best, a state of mind that trancends the prevailing emotion.
The prevailing emotion may be anger or hatred....and yet there may still be the 'act' of 'love' (On Edit. perhaps better phrased as- a loving act ;-)
No?
It's not a "thing" in the same way that many God-concepts are.
Hmmmmmmmm.....I would suggest that one of the major central themes of the major faiths is trying to reject, avoid, get away from the "thingyness" of "God concepts"