Ah, thank you for asking, Eric! It was always here! Check out my response to "Topic of June 27: Is there a beginning to Time? - An End?" back on your page 6 of the old responses. If I were to ask you, "What was there before there was God?" your quick response should be something along the line of, "God was always here. There is no 'before God'," and rightly so. Now, if you can grasp the concept of a forever God, why not a forever universe? There is no beginning, Eric. There is no end. The universe is my God. He created all things, simply because He is all things. The scientists are my priests, for it is they who study this universe God and explain Him to the world.

I happen to believe in God. I can't answer this question. God made everything. Nothing comes from nothing.

To say love was universal, you would also have to say that hate and nervousness and hunger and anything else people feel are also "universal". I suppose they may be universal in that it is inevitable that we would feel them, but outside of our thoughts and actions, which means throughout almost every process in the universe, "love" has no meaning.

Oh, ouch, Eric! Okay. So love makes the world go round. Well, that's basic physics. The more advanced the creature, the more inclined it is to communicate its emotions-and that's what love is, my friend. An emotion. And humans, I think you'll find, are, by far, the most advanced creatures on this planet-and I will personally harpoon the first whale who disagrees. Human emotions were formed through the evolution of a very shy and insecure creature . . . US! We huddled in caves, hid in lodges, all crowded together for warmth in the winter, and for security in the summer. This closeness became known as family, and family ties are among the strongest. You mess with one Cartwright, you mess with them all, buddy. Bonanza aside, though, love is really nothing more than a taking of one person to another. An acceptance. It is a powerful, sometimes overpowering, emotion and one to be taken quite seriously. Where love is concerned, age is not a factor-no more so than it would be for sadness or disappointment. Children are "taught" to love one another, their parents, their relatives, their country, and their God. This may even be looked upon as a kind of brainwashing, and in a sense that's exactly what it is. Just as a soldier in the thick of combat becomes inured to the death that literally surrounds him, so are the average civilians emotionally opened to one another. A combat veteran may well find it difficult to relate with others who had not shared in his death experience, an emotional gauntlet he may have been enduring for years. At the same time, the civilian simply cannot quite grasp the concept of mortal combat-and what is wrong with that vet anyway? Well, we can't blame it all on the notorious "Agent Orange Syndrome", can we? To the veteran's way of viewing life, nothing is wrong-once you manage to clear out all these nonconformists who insist there's something wrong with "him". Passions. Can you honestly say that you would give up your life to protect those you love? Possibly. You can say you'll fight for them, but you still won't know your convictions until the moment of your death- and even then maybe not. Love. The symbol of '60s unity and peace. Something you promise to another when you wed, though without really understanding just what it is. Love makes the world go round. Well, it certainly keeps them communicating- which, by the way, pays my check! Viva la MCI WorldCom Advanced Networks!

"Love" is "just a human emotion", because "love", or the translation in any other human language than English, is the word that humans have attached to a set of mental and/or physical responses [feelings] that we have to select, but sometimes broadly select, other things, living or not. Since humans, as a species, are, for better or worse, different in some way from all other species, it is, by definition, unique to humans. Other species may have similar physiological responses, but as they came about in response to the survival needs of different species, at different periods of time, it is almost impossible the responses of any two or more species are the same.

If love is universal, then you would have to believe that there are other forms of life out there. We have no conclusive evidence of extraterrestrial life, so, who knows if love is universal?

Love is remarkable feeling that is the same throughout the universe and for all eternity. It has many mysterious powers and is in fact part of the meaning of us being here.