In the next two blog posts I will expand on the other few names for love and what each of them means. What I love about these words is that they force us to recognize the true differences in the way we love certain people. If our world, today, had as many specific terms for love instead of just the one we have, I truly believe the way humans communicated their feelings from an early age would drastically change for the better.
Eros:
This word for love came from the Greek Goddess of fertility, and can be interpreted as a few different feelings. The most common use, though, is when someone is referring to their intimate lover. So while some may use this word to speak of their spouse, it is usually used in the context of sexual, or erotic love. Just like the fertility Goddess, it represents being able to express passion and desire. Strangely enough, though, this type of love to the Greeks was irrational and dangerous. They thought that this kind of love takes possession of those involved, and did not think highly of it. Personally, I agree with the Greeks in their fears of the danger of this love. While many people desire only to "fall madly in love", I don't think people truly see the danger in seeking this love.
Philia:
Developed by Aristotle, is a type of love you feel for someone you have a deep friendship with. This is often used when talking about men who fought in war together. When using the term philia, the people involved almost always had a very close relationship, especially where the sharing of feelings was involved. The Greeks valued this type of relationship much more than they valued the sexually based "eros", but I'm not sure I could say the same for the world today. While the Greeks would have been appalled by peoples' desires these days to gain hundred and thousands of friends and followers on social media to gain something, I think that our world has raised that up much more than this deep comradely type of love. This type of love doesn't just mean the love you have for a friend, but it represents the sacrifices that you are willing to make in order to sustain and uphold that friendship.
Another good but little-known love: Xenophilia, or love of the stranger. We all really need to cultivate this one, to counter our tendency towards its opposite xenophobia.
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