Love

For whatever reason I'm tackling the mushy topic of love. I suppose because it's on my mind. It's so misconstrued and abused by others. A major issue concerning the topic, that I will address, is that a lot of people don't really know what love is, and if they do, they limit it. That is, they don't know how to love unconditionally. I'll briefly define the four different types of love, but the major focus will be on Agápe, as I believe it is the most important.

I suppose we can start off with the different types of love.

• Storge
• Philia
• Eros
• Agápe

Storge is the greek word for natural love. (i.e.)The love that an animal would have for their young or a parent for their child. It's also love between family members.

Philia is the greek for friendship love. Aristotle created three different types of categories for friendships. (But I will not discuss it here.)

Eros is more of a romantic love that does not have to be sexual in nature. It tends to be more passionate and more desirable.

Agápe... Agape is known as God's love, unconditional love, and in my opinion is the best love of all. I believe that the bible best defines it, if you don't already know you can find it in 1 Corinthians 13.

⁴Love is patient, love is kind. It does not envy, it does not boast, it is not proud. ⁵It is not rude, it is not self-seeking, it is not easily angered, it keeps no record of wrongs. ⁶Love does not delight in evil but rejoices with the truth. ⁷It always protects, always trusts, always hopes, always perseveres. (Excerpt from http://www.biblegateway.com/passage/?search=1+Corinthians+13&version=KJV)

For those that still don't get it...it's quite simple. Love does not envy, it's not envious. People envy and some people are envious.

Love is not proud. People are. Love is not prideful. People are.

Love is just love. Love doesn't carry all the extra characteristics that people do.

My Opinion

I believe that if everyone acquired Agápe love, the world would be a much better place. I believe this because if we, as human beings, acquired Agápe Love, we wouldn't keep a record of wrongs. That means once someone has done wrong against us, we automatically forgive them. We wouldn't keep any grudges and we wouldn't keep bringing up the past action of that wrong doing.

Love is not self seeking which means that love is not selfish and love doesn't do for it's own benefit. If we all acquired Agápe love for one another I believe that we would be more concerned with others and not act out of self benefits.

If we all had Agápe love, you wouldn't have to worry about anyone busting the windows out your car or anything of that nature. You wouldn't have to worry about someone disliking you because of what you have or what you do, or someone envying you for any reason at all.

You most definitely wouldn't have to worry about evil doings.

I think I reached my point. Agápe love is so difficult to acquire. Especially for me, as a person I hold grudges and honestly I think I could hold on to one for a lifetime. Holding grudges is something that I have been working on for some time. I won't stop until I conquer myself and become the better person that I want to become. I will acquire Agápe love for everyone one day.

Limiting Love...love doesn't have any expectations.

I have seen people do this a lot. They limit love. People limit their love by putting it under a condition and/or having expectations. Married couples and couples in general are guilty of this action and they may not even know it. People limit their love by putting a condition on it or just by having expectations. I'll give you a few examples.

For instance, when you ask someone how much they love you. That's like asking them to put an end onto something that should have no ending. Or by bribing someone into doing something or by requesting an action that they must complete in order to prove their love to you. A classic cliché example would be a young man wanting his girlfriend to have sex with him in order to prove that she loves him. That's putting love under a condition and a limitation. It's definitely NOT Agápe.

If you want to love without any limits and unconditionally then stop creating limits and putting your love under a condition...it's simple as that. Don't allow a condition to define how much someone loves you.

I know that a person's actions define them sometimes better then their words do, but know and understand what Agápe Love is.

"Love has no expectations and no other desires but to fulfill itself."
(Original quote "Love has no Desires but to fulfill itself."- Kahlil Gibran)