And You'll Be Walking On Air

I wanted to write about something I find really interesting. Love is a word with many meanings, and is difficult to define. Love also isn't a single fixed emotion, for there are many subtle differences between the various types of love. In Ancient Greek are four words for love - agápe, éros, philía, and storgē, which are four different types of love that have their own characteristics and personalities.

Agápe (αγάπη)

• Is unconditional love
• Brings forth caring regardless of circumstance
• Is selfless, self-giving, altruistic, sacrificial love, in which nothing is asked in return
• Remains constant and is committed love
• Often refers to a deeper sense of "true love" rather than the attraction suggested by "eros"
• Is the feeling of holding one in high regard
• Is the highest and purest form of love
• Is also the love of God; spiritual love
• Was most heavily used by early Christians to denote absolute love of God, it’s the most frequently used word for love in Christian writings
• Creates value in its object as a result of loving it
• Can also mean the ”Love of the Soul”

Storge (στοργή)

• Is affectionate love
• Is a natural affection, like that felt by parents for their children and is most easily related to the kind of love that animals have
• Is fondness through familiarity, especially between family members
• Is the warm comfortableness, satisfaction and security just by being in the presence of one another, that is most often experienced with family or lifelong friends
• There is strong companionship, but little physical intimacy
• Emphasizes intimacy, trust, friendship, and the desire to care for one another

Philia (φιλία)

• Is Friendship Love
• Is a strong bond existing between people who share a common interest, activity or temperament and which is strengthened by shared experiences
• Is friendly affection and love between good friends, which is not sexual in nature
• Is the embodiment of everything a true, meaningful friendship represents and where there is giving and receiving, it includes loyalty, and requires equality
• Is a chosen love, because we choose whom we will befriend
• Is more conditional and less sacrificial and less willing to continually overlook faults and frequently forgive others than storge
• It can also mean "Love of the Mind”

Éros (έρως)

• Is the love in the sense of “being in love”
• Is infatuation between people and is like “puppy love”
• Means romantic love, it does not necessarily imply sexuality, but most often does
• Is passionate love, with sensual desire and longing
• Is motivated by, and involves, emotional need; to elicit physical love and affection from the one you love
• Is associated with lust and often based on aesthetic enjoyment
• Is the love of the attractive, beautiful, desirable, but also the desire to possess the object of one’s love
• Eros is at its worst “An unquenchable fire that consumes its owner. It seeks to find self-satisfaction in its object but the failure to possess only enflames the desire more.” ;acquisitive, egocentric or even selfish; inconstant and unfaithful love
• Is a love that responds to the merit or value of its object, seeking pleasure, satisfaction and fulfillment
• Sometimes translated as “Love of the Body”

Romantic relationships are often based upon an expression of Eros love. Eros isn’t an adequate foundation for marriage if it’s the only type of love present. True love with your spouse requires all four types of Love, I think.