Love is a descriptive term that can generally refer to feelings, state or attitude towards someone. It could even mean pleasure derived from doing something, like the love for a meal or even interpersonal attraction towards someone…”oh I love her!”This relates to the feelings that you may have towards someone as a form of affection or attachment. It is also a virtue that symbolizes the kindness of man, affection and compassion towards other creatures (Dixon, 2007). Love is can also refer to the general selfless concern and worry for other beings. That said, it is also essential to state that love is one of the most important themes of creative arts being that it is acts a major facilitator especially in regards to the issue of interpersonal relationships and being that it is of very critical to the psychological wellbeing of man. The essay is therefore going to focus on the three forms of love: Eros, romantic and agape with the writer taking a stand in agape love as the most suitable type of love.
Interpersonal attraction can be categorized into three main branches to represent the different love feelings. These can be distinguished as Eros love, agape love, and romantic love. The Eros type of love is an expression of the physical attraction and sensual feelings between married couples (Quadros, 2011). The term Eros actually originates from a Greek word that means erotic love as portrayed in the Old Testament, specifically in the songs of Solomon. Eros is the type of love that refers to the attraction between two people that leads to the awakening of emotions, in effect leading to sexual expression of love.
Agape love is the pure type and self-sacrificing form of love. The kind of love makes people care for others in the same society in which they live in without basing it on costs or any other hindrances (Quadros, 2011). It is the kind of love that makes humanity care for those who are less fortunate and extending a helping hand to those in need. In biblical terms, agape love is the love that is exhibited by God when he allowed his only son Jesus Christ to die for our sins on the cross at Calvary. In Luke 6:35, this is the kind of love that Christ urges his disciples to exhibit even towards their enemies (Vaughn, 2010).
On the other hand, romantic love is the type of love that compels one to be expressive and gives one a sense of pleasure, a feeling that stems from being emotionally attached and attracted towards another person. In the context of romantic relationships, romance revolves around the idea of expressing one’s feelings or the deep and strong emotional desires that tend to connect two people intimately or romantically. In the book, “romantic love loves the higher passion”, a woman in love st
ates that “I would rather die than loose the feeling of loving him and being loved by him” (Määttä & Uusiautti, 2011).
In my opinion, I believe that agape love is the purest holistic type of love that there can ever be. I know that not everyone believes in Christianity but the fact that we all are compassionate towards one another and affection ate at one point in time is something even I, cannot comprehend. The fact that we all can be selfless and love each other despite the religions we believe in is surely from of agape love. Romantic love may disappoint and fizzle from time to time with Eros love weakening once the desire is quenched but the sight of a little child hungry, and crying surely makes all of us compassionate and desire to cater for them (Vaughn, 2010). Just as 1st Corinthians 13 and verse 4 states, according to the bible, “Charity sufferth long, and is kind: charity envieth not; charity vauneth not itself, it is not puffed up”…this is the true definition of love (Quadros, 2011).
Actually, it is agape love that bears these other forms of love. Just like a man loves a woman, so did Christ love the church. In reality, it is this kind of love that makes the world go round. The type that is unconditional and voluntary in nature. It is the kind of love that compels you to offer shelter someone being rained on and to extend a hand of kindness to people who have been hit by a natural disaster.
Regardless of the fact that we are all from different religious orientations, we all have a sense of compassion to those that are in a situation of great need. What then can surpass this form of love that knows no boundaries? Huls states that agape love in its pure form is extremely divine. He says, “if we could imagine the love of one who loves men purely for their own sake, and not because of any need or desire of his own, purely desires their good, and yet loves them wholly, not for what at this moment they are but for what he knows he can make of them because he made them, then we should have in our minds some true image of the love of the father and creator of mankind” (Huls, 2011). I am of the view therefore, that love is all we need …I wonder what the world would be like without the greatest forms of all love.
Reference
Dixon, N. (2007). Romantic love, appraisal, and commitment. Philosophical Forum, 38(4), 373-
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Huls, J. (2011). Love founded in God: The fruits of love in Kierkegaard's 'Works of love'.
Hervormde Teologiese Studies, 67(3), 1-10. doi:10.4102/hts.v67i3.1117
Määttä, K., & Uusiautti, S. (2011). Love and Creativity - Paradoxal but Important Human
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Quadros, E. (2011). Eros, Fília e Ágape: o amor do mundo grego à concepção cristã.
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Vaughn, S. N. (2010). Saint Anselm and His Students Writing about Love: A Theological
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