Last week, I wrote a post about the existence of unconditional love.
I thought love would be hard to define, but as it turns out several people have already done so. The Merrian-Webster Dictionary defines Love as:
While this definition is accurate (obviously), I was more interested in finding different categories of love. In addition to having our own love language, which is how we communicate love; we also love differently at the core. John Lee divided these types of love into 6 categories of love style. They are as follows:
Eros: a passionate physical and emotional love based on aesthetic enjoyment; stereotype of romantic Love.
My thoughts: So basically this means as long as you are happy and enjoy that person, you love them. Not unconditional.
Ludus: a love that is played as a game or sport; conquest; may have multiple partners at once.
MyThoughts: Non-committal love. Going to go ahead and say this is probably conditional too. The condition being who’s bed you are in that night.
Storge: An affectionate love that slowly develops from friendship, based on similarity.
My Thoughts: This has to be unconditional, right? You love them because they are like you and you are friends. But what if one person changes? Maybe this one has conditions too.
Pragma: Love that is driven by the head, not the heart; undemonstrative.
My Thoughts: I think it would be difficult to logically love someone unconditionally. You have to leave matters of the heart to the heart. Your head is no place for unconditional love because it’s already occupied by your conditions.
Mania: obsessive love; experience great emotional highs and lows; very possessive and often jealous lovers.
My Thoughts: Going to leave this one alone for now. Obsession is not love and the condition is craziness.
Agape: selfless altruistic love
My Thoughts: This has to be unconditional. If you truly love someone selflessly, you can love them no matter what. Conditions aside.
Well, that was kind of a bust! I was hoping more of the categories would show some promising traits of unconditional love. At least now, I know moving forward, unconditional love requires complete selflessness. And so the journey continues…
Love,
Miss J
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© LoveJays 2013
I believe that you need to create a solid place in your heart and mind, to commit to loving and caring for someone. The journey is long and winding, so difficult at times that your commitment to follow the natural path of life makes you sometimes question your ability to be be selfless.Loving someone selflessly over the years, actually feels selfish, because the depth of that bond in your heart and mind is one of life’s truely amazing gifts!
Thanks for your words of wisdom, Laurie!