Love isn’t simple. The ancient Greeks understood this so well that they had three different words to express it:
1) Agape - Perfect, unconditional love – Often characterized as the love of God. Most of us mere mortals have to work hard at achieving this.
Thou shalt love thy neighbor as thyself. – Leviticus 19:18, KJV
Lord, grant that I might not so much seek to be loved as to love. - St. Francis of Assisi
It’s wonderful how love of one sort or another tracks throughout our lives.
Most of us first feel it from our parents and caregivers when we’re babies and children. This is selfless and embracing love. This is where we first learn the importance of trust and forgiveness. Sometimes these relationships follow and sustain us for many years.
2) Philos – Brotherly love – the kind we feel for our friends and family, our daily companions throughout our lives. This is based on trust, community, and caring – and it can last a lifetime.
“Piglet sidled up to Pooh from behind. “Pooh?” he whispered. ”Yes, Piglet?” ”Nothing,” said Piglet, taking Pooh’s hand. “I just wanted to be sure of you.” ― A.A. Milne, Winnie-the-Pooh
“Friendship,” said Christopher Robin, “is a very comforting thing to have.” - A.A. Milne
We develop friendships and alliances of many kinds that carry us through and sustain us – even in childhood, when we’re learning to get along, and in the strange years of adolescence.
Later, these are the friends we rely on to support and advise, or sometimes just comfort us. How would we survive without them?
3) Eros -Romantic (or sexual) love – An often temporary feeling based primarily on the physical. Throughout ages of literature, this is the type which often leads to irrational behavior and passionate, often physical expressions of devotion or desire.
At the touch of love everyone becomes a poet. – Plato
Falling in love consists merely in uncorking the imagination and bottling the common sense. - Helen Rowland
As we enter adulthood, we begin to look for a different kind of companionship. Some would say mature; others might say a little crazy.
We feel a biological imperative to find our “other halves,” and complete ourselves through uniting with that one other, special person.
If we’re lucky, we find it in someone who can travel through the years with us, and help us begin our own families, coming full circle.
I’ll go out on a limb here, and suggest that truly successful marriages contain a little of each kind of love, to keep things going through the years as we grow and change.
“We’ll be Friends Forever, won’t we, Pooh?’” asked Piglet. “Even longer,” Pooh answered. ― A.A. Milne, Winnie-the-Pooh
Now that’s love.
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This post was written in response to the WordPress Daily Post’s Weekly Photo Challenge: Love. To learn more about this challenge, and to see other bloggers’ responses, click here.
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Love the way you combined the ancient Greek wisdom with AA Milne quotes and your wonderful photos
Thanks so much, Rose!
Very nice collections of images for the weekly challenge! Well thought out.
Thanks, Rick – I’m glad you liked it!
Hi,
I have nominated you for the Sisterhood of the World Bloggers Award and the Blog of the Year 2012 Award! Please check out the link for more information.
http://helpwithyourlife.wordpress.com/2013/01/29/sisterhood-of-the-world-bloggers-award-and-blog-of-the-year-20126th-star/
Congratulations!
Cathie
Thanks so much!
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That wasn’t too far out on a limb when you said that successful marriages have a bit of each of those forms of love. Not too far out at all. You made my day with the Milne quotes.
Thanks – I’m glad you enjoyed the quotes – just can’t go wrong with Winnie-the-Pooh!
I agree, we need all of them throughout our lives. Nicely written and illustrated.
Thanks so much, Patti – for the comment and the visit!
I like the way you put this one together. The mom and baby I think is my favourite, but it’s hard to pick a favourite. Love in it’s many forms, indeed.
Thanks so much, Gregory – I appreciate the kind comment! I love that mom and baby myself! Thank you for coming by to visit!
Reblogged this on James' World 2.
Thank you!
You are most welcome!
I just nominated you for the Very Inspiring Blogger Award
Thank you very much!
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This is beautiful, thoughtful and absolutely…filled with love!
Many thanks! I had a lot of fun selecting the photos, too!
Loved sharing your journey
I’m so glad you came along, Marianne!
great series of photos and I love the Pooh quotes
Thanks, Jo – Pooh and Piglet never disappoint, do they?
I didn’t know I wasn’t following you
Great post, greater definition… LOVEd it.
I’m really glad you enjoyed the post – and thanks so much for the follow!
I agree that to make a marriage last…perhaps we need a mixture of the different types of love! You’re a very good writer! Nice to meet you! ~Sherry~
Thank you, Sherry – and thanks for stopping by to comment, too!
Beautifully expressed TRS
Thanks, Madhu!
You took me on a beautiful journey, filled with love – thank you for that. Precious moments captured in beautiful photos. And A.A. Milne’ s quote in the end – like an icing on a cake. For me.
Thank you, Ese! Glad you enjoyed the ride!
Hi,
Thank you for visiting my blog. These photos are wonderful! I love old paper photos and could spend hours with them. You have chosen some superb quotes to illustrate the different types of love.
Well done!
Thanks for this lovely comment. I’m working on getting boxes of those old paper photos into electronic formats, so I can share them with my kids and other relatives! I enjoyed your post, photo, and quote as well. Glad you stopped by!
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Winnie the Pooh to Christopher Robin, “I want to live one day longer than you, so that I never have to live a day without you.”
You’ve written a wonderful piece here. Especially the trust and forgiveness part. I recently experienced a betrayal. This betrayal caused me to think a lot about trust and forgiveness in my relationship. I consciously chose to forgive. I forgave because, if I truly love this person, that love should be unconditional. Yes, I was hurt, but life can hurt simply by participating. If not unconditional, then in my mind I have no business being in the relationship to begin with. Ergo, forgive, don’t issue reminders of transgressions, and carry on.
The best part of forgiveness is that it frees YOU to move beyond the hurt. Thanks so much for stopping in and taking time to comment. I wish you well on the next steps in your journey.
I wish there was a like button
and yes, forgiveness is liberating.
Thank you for sharing the different types of love. Your photos are wonderful in connection with each type.
BE ENCOURAGED! BE BLESSED!
Thanks so much, Francine!
I really enjoyed your photos for the challenge. I agree that a successful relationship needs all three kinds of love.
Thank you! Glad you enjoyed the post, AD!
Absolutely lovely! I loved it!
Thanks so much – and thanks for stopping by to comment!
I like that last photo of the couple sharing the cake!
Thanks! Those are my grandparents, celebrating their 50th wedding anniversary!
It’s a nice photo – they are clearly still in love!
They were married in 1920, and are long gone now, but they really were devoted to one another all of their lives.
I would say you’re correct.
A little bit of all of it.
Pooh/Piglet/wise
Thanks, Gemma !
A balanced mixture of the 3 would make for a perfect world.
So true – then we’d have each handy when we needed it!
Beautiful love journey! Thanks, TRS!
You’re welcome – and thanks for stopping in to comment, Amy!
Beautiful post!
Thanks, Alexandria – so glad you came to visit!
Excellent descriptive writing and great images
ps – great fan of St.Francis 
Thank you! So glad you stopped by!
What is love? – I am reflecting on this very question at the moment. Is it physical as in a oining of bodies and minds or is it something far less tangible. When people talk of love at first sight they have experienced neither mental or physical contact – just visual. So in the terms of a relationship what is it?
whoops that should be joining
Hard to say! I guess that’s why the Greeks needed so many words!
Was Aphrodite the godess of love?
Yep – the Romans called her Venus….
Who was the God of love?
Well, Eros was Cupid, I think – the Romans called him Amor.
How could I forget Cupid with his arrow!