Friday, May 9, 2008

Love's vocabulary

I have been thinking a lot about LOVE. What is love? well, all I did is, I googled the diction of love and its origin.

Did you know the Greeks have four different words for Love?
Eros
is the passionate love, with sensual desire and longing; where erotic comes from.
Philia
is friendship, a dispassionate virtuous love.
Storge
is natural affection, like that felt by parents for children, or little ones for Nanny.
Agape
– THIS ONE IS MY FAVORITE – is an all-inclusive unconditional love. This is the one widely used in religious teachings. To have agape is to see all people doing the best they can with the light they’ve got. Agape is not spoken about. It’s a space you rest in; a state of being that is pure uninhibited love. Someone in this state is not looking for a return on the investment. In fact they don’t see it as an investment at all. This is remarkable compassion.

hmmm... Would it be correct to assume the Greeks' four meanings of love: eros, philia, storge and agape, would be equivalent to our own English vocabulary of lust, like, affection and love, respectively?

Except I'm guessing a parent's love for his or her child can be described as something that is slightly more than mere affection, no? I'd hope? Perhaps unconditional love?

Whatever. There are so many words. Love, like, adulation, infatuation, adoration, lust, passion, affection, admiration…it doesn't end.

I wonder how possible it is to be completely incapable of all-consuming, all-encompassing, all-guards-down love. Can you be human and still claim that?


No comments: