Soulmate unconditional love5/8/2023 ![]() The first kind of love was eros, named after the Greek god of fertility, and it represented the idea of sexual passion and desire. But the Greeks didn’t always think of it as something positive, as we tend to do today. In fact, eros was viewed as a dangerous, fiery, and irrational form of love that could take hold of you and possess you-an attitude shared by many later spiritual thinkers, such as the Christian writer C. Lewis.Įros involved a loss of control that frightened the Greeks. ![]() Which is odd, because losing control is precisely what many people now seek in a relationship. Don’t we all hope to fall “madly” in love? 2. ![]() The second variety of love was philia or friendship, which the Greeks valued far more than the base sexuality of eros. Philia concerned the deep comradely friendship that developed between brothers in arms who had fought side by side on the battlefield. (Another kind of philia, sometimes called storge, embodied the love between parents and their children.) It was about showing loyalty to your friends, sacrificing for them, as well as sharing your emotions with them. We can all ask ourselves how much of this comradely philia we have in our lives. It’s an important question in an age when we attempt to amass “friends” on Facebook or “followers” on Twitter-achievements that would have hardly impressed the Greeks. Like what you’re reading? We’re nonprofit and ad-free-we depend on readers like you. ![]() Subscribe or donate today to keep YES! going strong. While philia could be a matter of great seriousness, there was a third type of love valued by the ancient Greeks, which was playful love. Following the Roman poet Ovid, scholars (such as the philosopher A. ![]()
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