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The Real Meaning of "Love"

by Jeff Veley | Love Changes It All

Valentine’s Day is once again upon us and the word “love” will echo across the globe, but what is “love”?  It’s amazing that in the United States we can hear someone say “I love my husband/wife” in the next breath say “I love tacos”?

Here’s more on what love really means…

 In Hebrew, the word “love” means “to endure long suffering”.

Happy Valentine’s Day!

Definitions of Love

  • Agápe – brotherly love, charity; the love of God for man and of man for God.[2] Agape is used in ancient texts to denote feelings for one’s children and the feelings for a spouse, and it was also used to refer to a love feast.[3]Agape is used by Christians to express the unconditional love of God for his children.[4] This type of love was further explained by Thomas Aquinas as “to will the good of another.”[5]
  • Philia –  means “affectionate regard, friendship love,” usually “between equals.”[8] It is a dispassionate virtuous love, a concept developed by Aristotle.[9] In his best-known work onethics, Nico
    machean Ethics
    philia is expressed variously as loyalty to friends, family, and community, and requires virtue, equality, and familiarity. Furthermore, in the same text philos denotes a general type of love, used for love between family, between friends, a desire or enjoyment of an activity, as well as between lovers.
  • Éros – love, mostly of the sexual passion.[6] The Modern Greek word “erotas” means “intimate love.” Plato refined his own definition: Although eros is initially felt for a person, with contemplation it becomes an appreciation of the beauty within that person, or even becomes appreciation of beauty itself. Plato does not talk of ph
    ysical attraction as a necessary part of love, hence the use of the word platonic to mean, “without physical attraction.” In the Symposium, the most famous ancient work on the subject, Plato has Socrates argue that eros helps the soul recall knowledge of beauty, and contributes to an understanding of spiritual truth, the ideal “Form” of youthful beauty that leads us humans to feel erotic desire – thus suggesting that even that sensually based love aspires to the non-corporeal, spiritual plane of existence; that is, finding its truth, just like finding any truth, leads to transcendence.[7] Lovers and philosophers are all inspired to seek truth through the means of eros.
  • Storge – “love, affection” and “especially of parents and children”[10] It’s the common or natural empathy, like that felt by parents for offspring.[11] Rarely used in ancient works, and then almost exclusively as a descriptor of relationships within the family. It is also known to express mere acceptance or putting up with situations, as in “loving” the tyrant.
    * Wikepedia

“Hate cannot drive out hate, only love can do that. Love is the only force capable of turning an enemy to a friend.”

— Rev. Dr. Martin Luther King Jr.


Love is a choice


This week’s audio tip features my friend, school psychologist Dr. Brooks Gibbs.  Learn more at www.BrooksGibbs.com