All About Love

This week what I found particularly interesting was when we talked about the different meanings of love and the different types of  lovers. The first meaning of love is storge which is like the love between parents and their children. With this one you are willing to do anything to protect them and care for them. The 2nd type is Philia which is the love between friends, a kind of brotherly love. Eros is the 3rd type of love which is what everyone thinks of when love is mentioned. It is all about passion and longing to always be in the presence of the other person. Finally there is Agape which is actually not based on the attractiveness of one another. It is to act on behalf of the well being of someone else, whether you like the person or not. We were asked in class which of these types of love that we would want in our own marriages. At first I automatically said Agape because that is the kind of love that lasts and doesn't fade like passionate love does, but in an ideal marriage I would want some of all of these. I would want a spouse that would protect me, be my best friend, care for me no matter what and one  that I would always be attracted to. Then there are the six types of lovers. The erotic lover is one who focuses mainly on the physical and sexual parts of the relationship. There is the ludic lover who sees love as a more casual thing and does not get very deeply involved. storgic lovers have a more quiet affection for each other and tends to grow slowly, but very stable. The manic lover is focused with feelings of jealousy and switches between ecstasy and despair in the relationship. A pragmatic lover is one who will take "careful stock" of one another and tries to find a person that meets the characteristics that they want. The final type is the agapic lover acts for the well being of the other person without wanting or expecting anything in return. I thought it was really relevant to look and see what one I was most like. Another point that my teacher made that really hit me was when a student asked a question about interracial marriages. He told us that race did not matter we are all part of the human race. What mattered was that we choose someone who had similar cultures with. We should pick someone that we could create the best culture or environment with. I learned so much about love and the differences between one that will last and one that will crumble. Someday I will be able to use what I learned to build a long happy marriage with my future spouse.