Translation

Showing posts with label Agape. Show all posts
Showing posts with label Agape. Show all posts

05 January 2021

Love(1) Is Not Love(2)

I grew up in a town northeast of a big city named Adelphia. The city's name means "City of Love." Never heard of it? It's in the U.S.

Of course, the real name is Philadelphia which means "City of Brotherly Love."

But I heard that "Love is Love." I wonder how can this be true?

Are all these loves equivalent?

  • Sister/Brother
  • Mother/Son
  • Father/Daughter
  • Dog/Dog owner
  • Gamer/Mindcraft 
  • Husband/Wife

The Greeks had at least four words for love that can be found in the book The Four Loves by C.S. Lewis.

They are (according to Wikipedia)

Storge – empathy bond
Philia – friend bond
Eros – romantic love
Agape – unconditional "God" love

or (affection - friendship - eros - charity)

Eros can also be a desirous love for chocolate or video games.

Lets put the letters of the loves next to the list above. Storge = S; Philia = P; etc.

  • Sister/Brother S/P/A
  • Mother/Son S/A
  • Father/Daughter S/A
  • Dog/Dog owner S/P
  • Gamer/Mindcraft E
  • Husband/Wife S/P/E/A

The above listing may be debatable, but it can be seen that love is not love in all cases. Husband/Wife love is the ultimate love (includes all four) that has the potential to create new humans that can love.

May we always cringe whenever we read "Love is Love." It's not.