I've wanted to write a book about Love for a while. I don't yet know my angle. Will I write about the forms love can take? How about the love that withstands the test of time? I've used this tag many times. Love is very important. I don't think one can truly live without Love. It's a festering, dark, miserable existence.
I've researched some of the forms of Love. Here is what I have found:
Eros: This is a hot, passionate, rip-each-other’s-clothes-off, intense sort of love. The focus here is passion. The Greeks viewed it as a dangerous, fiery, and irrational form of love that could take hold of you and possess you.
Ludus: This type of love is playful and revolves around fun, laughter, shared connections. Practical jokes are totally welcome. We've all had a taste of it in the flirting and teasing in the early stages of a relationship. But we also live out our ludus when we sit around in a bar bantering and laughing with friends, or when we go out dancing.
Storge: Originating from friendship, this is the sort of love that develops slowly and is based on support and affection. We're talking about 10 years from now. This also is a familial love between relatives.
Pragma: Practical, collaborative, partnership—couples with this kind of love are a united front, driven by the same goals. If your relationship were a business, one of you would be the CEO, the other the president. Pragma is about making compromises to help the relationship work over time, and showing patience and tolerance.
Mania: Dramatic, this sort of love is punctuated by highs and lows and intense emotion. Hello, roller coaster!
Philautia - or self-love. The Greeks realized there were two types. One was an unhealthy variety associated with narcissism, where you became self-obsessed and focused on personal fame and fortune. A healthier version enhanced your wider capacity to love. The idea was that if you like yourself and feel secure in yourself, you will have plenty of love to give others.
Agape: Selfless, supportive—this type of love is all about focusing on the other’s needs, often at the expense of personal needs. Agape was later translated into Latin as caritas, which is the origin of our word "charity."
Sources: Yes Magazine and Glamour.com (because I liked these articles)
Maybe I will get to writing this one day.
This work is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-Noncommercial-No Derivative Works 3.0 United States License.
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