The difference between like and love

We commonly make a distinction between people we love and those we like. “I like him very enough, but I just don’t love him.” This distinction is well founded sociologically. Two different processes are involved: we like those persons who do rewarding things for us. On the other hand, we love a person for whom we have a strong attachment, as if they were the most valuable things in the world, liking is a pleasant feeling, a type of gratitude we feel for someone who has done something good for us.
Loving exist in a different dimension. It needs not be a pleasant feeling at all; it is much more emotional, quiet possible upsetting or elevating. We want to be near the person we love, but not necessarily to have him do anything for us; instead we want only to gaze upon that person, be in his presence or do things for him.   Liking then ,is linked to the rewards one gets from another. If the other person stops rewarding you, you likes for him diminish. Love may work in quiet the opposite way. Love arises in situations that may be closer to those ordinarily   provoking hate. A loved person may be cold,rejecting,or even resulting and still be loved. The rejecting may even enhance the love. The idol is sill an idol even if he does not respond to his worshiper; in fact, the idol may become even more elevated thereby. Of course, this degree of idealization   in love may become so unrealistic as to be considered neurotic. But it also exists to some degree in the loving feeling of concern for the other’s wellbeing, and of giving oneself for the loved one’s happiness.
We should ask, then, when we encounter theories about love, whether they are really about love or about liking. Often the two are linked together in subtle ways…………….