How do I know this is true love? Have I found the one? Is there only one right for me? Is this love or infatuation? These questions haunt us. In this 30 page booklet we will explore many of the facets of love and begin to understand our experience in light of it. Chocked full with insights from Philosophers and Science, you are sure to learn something new!
Infatuation * Eros * Romance * Platonic * Philia * Agape
Infatuation or being smitten is the state of being carried away by an unreasoned passion, usually towards another person for which one has developed strong romantic or platonic feelings.
Eros is one of the four ancient Greco-Christian terms which can be rendered into English as "love". Eros refers to "passionate love" or romantic love; storge to familial love; philia to friendship as a kind of love; and agape refers to "selfless love", or "charity" as it is translated in the Christian scriptures (from the Latin caritas, dearness).
The term erotic is derived from eros. Eros has also been used in philosophy and psychology in a much wider sense, almost as an equivalent to "life energy".
Romance is the expressive and pleasurable feeling from an emotional attraction towards another person. This feeling is associated with, but does not necessitate, sexual attraction. For most people it is eros rather than agape, philia, or familial love .
Platonic love is a term used for a type of love that is non-sexual. It is named after Plato, though the philosopher never used the term himself.
Philia, often translated "brotherly love", is one of the four ancient Greek words for love: philia, storge, agape and eros. In Aristotle's Nicomachean Ethics, philia is usually translated as "friendship" or affection. The complete opposite is called a phobia.
Agape is a Greco-Christian term referring to love, "the highest form of love, charity" and "the love of God for man and of man for God". The word is not to be confused with philia, brotherly love, as it embraces a universal, unconditional love that transcends and persists regardless of circumstance. The noun form first occurs in the Septuagint, but the verb form goes as far back as Homer, translated literally as affection, as in "greet with affection" and "show affection for the dead".[2] Other ancient authors have used forms of the word to denote love of a spouse or family, or affection for a particular activity, in contrast to eros (an affection of a sexual nature).
Philosophy, psychology, theology and anthropology insights from:
Plato
Aristotle
Sigmund Freud
Carl Jung
René Girard
Arthur Schopenhauer
Søren Kierkegaard
Friedrich Nietzsche
Karl Barth
Helen Fisher
John Townsend
Karen Horney
Harold Bessell
Lisa M. Diamond
Martie Haselton
Examining major theories: Attachment patterns, Passionate and companionate love, The triangular theory of love, The self-expansion theory of romantic love, Mindful relationships, Relationship behaviors
Cultural insights from great authors and literature: Leo Tolstoy, William Shakespeare's sonnets and Romeo and Juliet
Insights from Buddha, Jesus, The Good Samaritan, The Golden Rul, Christianit, Hille and Hebrew Scripture
Celebrated love by helping Outrageous Love, a tax deductible charity, to foster Communities of Hope among the impoverished and marginalized peoples of the world and is fully funded by individuals like you.
A couple of minutes later, a Love Gang guy came to me and said, “I’m going out there. She just looked through the window with that ‘Rescue me’ look in her eye.”