The word love is not just “like a whole lot”. There are many forms of love. And they are not equal.
Our english language does not explain them very well. Ancient Greek had five different words for love.
Storge – natural affection for your family
Eros – attractive and possessive love
Epithumia – lust or passion
Filio – love/friendship/to kiss
Agape- self-sacrificing love, unselfinterested love
I think there is a hierarchy of love:
Storge, Eros and Epithumia can not replace Filio or Agape. Agape is the greatest of all.
Storge I find to be the lowest form of love…its what keeps a mother saying she loves her son when he is a mass murder or rapist.
Eros is lust – where we get the word erotic from and I think we all know what it means
Epithumia is a step beyond Eros – With Epithumia you can “love a person – yet kill them to keep them from leaving you”. If you truly loved a person – you would wish for their happiness even if it ment being apart from you.
Filio is where the word Philadelphia comes from…brotherly love. It actually means “to kiss on the cheek”.
Agape – love given freely with no expectation of return.
Agape love the highest form of love. It is “if you love it you let it go” love. Agape love means you give with no expectation of receiving anything in return. If we all had agape love the world would be a better place. Agape love means you love a person even when they can’t love you in return. Agape love means loving enough to let a person go. It means loving a child enough to tell them no even when that makes them cry their eyes out. Agape love means putting others before you.
The beautiful thing about Agape is, the more you give out, the more filled you will be.
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