OK, how about this-
I think love is knowledge, or the need to know.
Love expressed as affection is the need to feel another person, in the tactile sense and to feel them spiritually and emotionally through interactions. It's like the curiosity of the child that wants to touch everything it sees in order to understand it more.
Also, love is often cruel and difficult and it is where many a harsh lesson is learned. And we get into it, knowing full well that we are at risk of causing great pain for ourselves, because we need to know something.
This explanation makes alot of sense to me right now, but I may need to come back and elaborate later.