Different Words for Love
Different Types of Love
The Greeks have four different words for love, each
representing a different type.
Eros :: the love that includes sexual passion. This is the love that we usually mean, the
miraculous and mysterious love that joins two hearts in a relationship
Storge :: the love between parents and children, familial
love. It has expanded to include the
love we feel toward a protective patron (such as patriotic love for our nation)
or fan-based love (“That’s my sports
team”).
Agape :: the love of God for people and of people for
God; the charity of Corinthians 13.
Philia is our
focus on Love in this blog. Many of us
have experienced that desirous connection to family and community that drives
us to reach out to those in need.
This brotherly love forms the basis of Rufus Wainwright’s
“He Ain’t Heavy, He’s my Brother,” the 1969 hit by the Hollies. Lyrics are here and the video here
Ideas
In our road of life, with its twisting turns and steep hills
and declines, we do need the occasional support of others. If we have the philia when we see someone troubled, we want to help. We are all equal, linked together by ties as
strong as blood.
And those we help, they do not seek to “encumber” or overly
burden us. They are equally on the road.
Unfortunately, we must admit that some people’s dysfunction
means they want to share misery rather than hope and gladness.
Remember,
Wainwright, tells us, it’s memento mori,
not carpe diem. We all come to the same dark mysterious end,
and when considering that end, we should reach out to others. Then our own burdens will not “weigh [us]
down”.
Structure
Easy
metaphors, easy alliteration, easy repetition.
The only interesting line is the 2nd about the road that
“leads us to who knows where who knows when”.
That oblique line is more clearly expressed in the 1st line
of the last stanza :: Death. That’s
depressing.
Which is
Wainwright’s point. With death at the
end, life is depressing enough. Make it
brighter by connecting to family and community.
Help
others, for we are then helping ourselves.
Love others, for we are then loving ourselves.
Ain’t that
the truth?
Coming Up
Broken Hearts on the 28th before we launch into
the fertility of March and the rebirth of Spring.
This series of blogs is for poetry lovers, hosted by Emily R. Dunn of Writers Ink Books. Visit our page on every multiple of 7 (7th, 14th, 21st, and 28th) to see which poem has inspired a lesson in thinking and writing.
http://writersinkservi.com/
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