What is love? It pervades human history and our cultures, yet defining it can be difficult as the word love is used in a myriad of fashions. Love is used as a universal moniker for kindness and compassion, or to denote seemingly differing levels of feelings toward something or someone; “I love you mom.” or “I love that reality show.” Merriam-Webster defines Love as “a strong affection for another arising out of kinship or personal ties.” Consequently this broad definition means love does not fall under a singular interpretation, but three levels of representation are universal; familial, romantic and higher enlightenment. Familial love encompasses the connections with everyday relations such as parents, siblings, offspring and friends. Romantic
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In addition shared experiences with parents, siblings, offspring and friends during the formative years promotes emotional bonding. These people know us well, both our strengths and weaknesses, and have shared in our positive and negative life experiences providing a support system. A father rocking his child to sleep or a mother spending time shopping with her teenager may seem innocuous or inconsequential, but an abundance of recurrent similar actions creates the basis for familial love. From this foundation of familial love humans can begin to explore romantic …show more content…
This form of love, designated Agape by Greek philosophers was described by Martin Luther King Jr. in the aforementioned speech as “…the love that includes everybody.” and of it he said “But when we rise to agape, to Christian love, it is higher than all of this. It becomes the love of God operating in the human heart. The greatness of it is that you love every man, not for your sake but for his sake. And you love every man because God loves him.” Worshipping a higher being and following a religious doctrine of love toward all is the most common aspect of higher enlightenment, but outside of theology, other abstract notions share the realm of higher enlightenment love; the capacity to elevate existentially and place mankind or nature ahead of individual concerns are other examples. The ability to put aside one’s desires, aspirations and even at times, life for a concept outside this plane of existence is a potent and rare version of
In addition shared experiences with parents, siblings, offspring and friends during the formative years promotes emotional bonding. These people know us well, both our strengths and weaknesses, and have shared in our positive and negative life experiences providing a support system. A father rocking his child to sleep or a mother spending time shopping with her teenager may seem innocuous or inconsequential, but an abundance of recurrent similar actions creates the basis for familial love. From this foundation of familial love humans can begin to explore romantic …show more content…
This form of love, designated Agape by Greek philosophers was described by Martin Luther King Jr. in the aforementioned speech as “…the love that includes everybody.” and of it he said “But when we rise to agape, to Christian love, it is higher than all of this. It becomes the love of God operating in the human heart. The greatness of it is that you love every man, not for your sake but for his sake. And you love every man because God loves him.” Worshipping a higher being and following a religious doctrine of love toward all is the most common aspect of higher enlightenment, but outside of theology, other abstract notions share the realm of higher enlightenment love; the capacity to elevate existentially and place mankind or nature ahead of individual concerns are other examples. The ability to put aside one’s desires, aspirations and even at times, life for a concept outside this plane of existence is a potent and rare version of