Three kinds of love
Love, the most tangible abstraction of all. Is a force that influences most of the decisions we make throughout life. Everyone seems to crave romantic love, but few realize that romantic love is a modern concept. There are different types of love, these were defined by the greeks thousands of years ago. Each type of love has its own qualities. By trying to achieve romantic love, we also take the risk of neglecting other types of love that are more accessible and, especially in the long term, can be more fullfilling and satisfying. There are 7 types of love defined by the greeks, within these, I chose the three most important, in my personal opinion, to represent them through collage.
"Eros"
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Eros:
Eros is the definition of "erotic" and was the name of a greek god who launched arrows of love, better known as Cupid by the romans. Eros today is related to a romantic way of love. In the age of the ancient Greece, the definition was much wider than this. Eros represented the feeling of blissful love, sensual pleasures, passion, fertility, and creative awakening, it was a connection with life. Given all this, we can define Eros as the loving energy of life, a connection to everything that is alive now.
"Agape"
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Agape:
It is a Greek term that defines a type of unconditional and reflective love. Agape is born from Eros as an entity in itself, as a form of selfless love that can be extended to all people. It is refers to as the deepest kind of love, this form of love is universal, as the love for nature or for the whole humanity, is the sacrifice of oneself in the service of the other.
"Philautia"
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Philautia:
Philautia is related to self-love. The greeks recognized two types of Philautia: a positive one, with high esteem and self-pity, and a negative one, narcissistic, arrogant and selfish.
The story of the greek god Narcissus is a good example of the negative Philautia, in which he became so obsessed with his own reflection that he fell into the lake and drowned.
To have esteem and self-compassion is not about being so introspective to the point that we no longer see anyone else. It is about having self-awarenes, self-love, a sense of worth and purpose in the world in a non-selfish manner, aware of yourself in relation to others. In the words of Aristoteles, "All friendly feelings towards others are an extension of one's feelings towards themself". Philautia is fundamental to be able to experience love to the fulest.