Monday, May 07, 2007

Tough love.

Can we ever begin to really understand love?

The ancient Greeks had four different words that meant love.

"Eros" was one of those words. It refers to erotic, sexual love.

"Storge" refers to family love, like the love between a parent and child, or perhaps between a husband or wife.

"Philia" is the third word for love. It speaks of a brotherly affection that one might have while in a deep friendship or partnership.

"Agape" is a love that loves without changing. It is a self-giving love that gives without expecting repayment. It is a love so great that it can be given to the undesirable. It is love that loves even when rejected. Agape love gives because it wants to.

So perhaps, when it comes to our so called soul mate, we will love them in all four of these ways. And if we don't, then maybe they are not our soul mate.

2 comments:

Kelly said...

Perhaps Frog Kisser. Perhaps.

Anonymous said...

That's quite a good description of love DL. And Frog Kisser I think settling for erotic love shows that you are in a short tem relationship. As true love must have all the four ingredients as DL said.

Personally I feel "Agape" is a kind of love that is generally missing and it does have a negative effect on the bondings.