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.
You feel compassion and pity that he wants to do such a terrible thing. Of course, you may still fear for your own life, but you wish no harm on this person. In self-defense, you may have to harm him, but it will not be from ill-will towards him, but fear for your own life (or some other reason, like duty.) The pain would also be terrible.
Is this invitation/injunction to 'love' an invitation to an "emotion"? The same kind of emotion I feel towards my wife/children?
Love can take many forms, not just the intimate kind felt for close family. So, no, it wouldn't be the exact same emotion, but we don't have words for those other ones in English, so we just use "love" for them all.
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?
Love and hate are two different states of mind, and therefore two different emotions. Sure, both can be felt at the same time, but that doesn't make them the same.
An "act of love" is a phrase that describes an act that is done for someone else's sake, and isn't necessarily connected with the emotion.
That has nothing to do with whether or not "love" exists, but simply a peculiarity of the English language.
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"
I said "many" God-concepts, primarily referring to the ones that view God as a person wholly separate from creation, which many religions do hold. I said "thing" in reference to God only for convenience, because "thing" and "person" are related, with the primary difference being the one refers to something (note: some
thing ) with sentience, while the other one doesn't.