I love pizza
I love this song.
I love my best friends.
I love my family.
I love you.
What is love? (Baby don’t hurt me)
Love is patient, love is kind… love is so many things and yet, it can be hard to understand.
We use this singular term to explain many very different feelings. The Greeks had a few terms for the emotion of love, each signifying different kinds. So, when someone said they loved you, you knew exactly what they meant.
1. Eros
This is the passionate love that everyone hopes to find with a significant other. That “falling madly in love” feeling that you n ever want to end. The all-consuming, deep love you feel for another person. It also encompasses the realm of physical attraction felt towards another person.
2. Philia
Philadelphia is not nicknamed the “City of brotherly love for nothing”. Philia is the type of love for friendship. For the Greeks, it was in regard to the friendship in comradery between brothers in arms on the battlefield. This love is loyal, a bond that does not just break. Also included in the same type of love is “storge”, which embodies love between parent and child.
3. Agape
Now this type of love is the most universal. Agape is selfless, unconditional love. The love you have that would make you do anything for the people that you feel it towards. Agape is not love that is earned, it is love that just is. It is felt simply because you feel it, nothing you could ever do could take agape love away. This is the love that comes from God, how He calls us to love everyone.
4. Philautia
Hopefully, you all have heard this before, but it is important to love yourself. In fact, the Greeks felt that it was so important, they dedicated a whole word to the subject. Philautia is the term for self-love, but not in the narcissistic self-involved sense. Instead this love comes from that feeling of knowing and believing in your worth and feeling secure in yourself. Loving yourself is important. You were uniquely created just as you are. There are times that arise where loving yourself just seems totally impossible and everything that could be wrong with yourself feels wrong. But in those moments remember, you are special, you are kind, you are important, you are beautiful, YOU ARE LOVED. You are here on this earth for a purpose, and you got this girlfriend! Love yourself. The more love that you have for yourself, the more love you have inside to give out to others.
“All friendly feelings for others are an extension of a man’s feelings for himself’ -Aristotle
Image Credit: Pinterest
HCXO,
Megan