CWpoet posted a note this morning,
"just love" . . .
I think about love a great deal, all its
different kinds and meanings. The
three basic, best known . . .
Eros - romantic
Philia - affectionate
Agape - unconditional
We tend to think of eros as that love
between spouses and couples, whereas
philia is that which we feel for family
and friends. Agape, that holy, perfect
love, a godly love, perhaps the love a
mother feels for her children.
Dr. Carol Morgan has further broken
down philia, which she calls love
between friends, into philautia, our self
love. Many of us grew up believing not
to indulge ourselves in ourselves. Today,
we understand that it is important to love
and care for ourselves in order to better
love, and serve others.
Morgan refers to storge as that parental
love towards children, thus separating
it even more from philia. I can actually
appreciate the love I feel for my own
babes being in a separate category. Me
thinks there is no greater love than that
for one's own.
I like pragma, that enduring love twixt
and tween those who have loved forever
and a day. I sooooo get this! I have those
childhood friends of fifty and sixty years.
I have friends I have learned to love in
my 35 year sojourn in the U.S. There is
a kind of adoring that goes on in these
long-term friendships.
I see ludus, playful love, as the beginning
of eros. I also get that not all playings in
the puddles of romantic love, go on to end
up in the oceans of eros. A lot of us like
to play a while before returning home
from vacation, as it were.
Perhaps, the one to watch out for is mania,
an obsessive love that can come to no good!
To be completely honest, we all have bits
and pieces of mania . . . but, we try to watch
out for them . . . we've all seen the movies,
after all!
Sooooo, when I tell you, "I love you six
ways to Sunday," watch out . . . you'll
have no idea which of these eight I'm
talking about!
so love me some friends
loving me my family
my own even more
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