c r o s s+r o a d s

Love

Love is in the air... so is traffic along Roxas Blvd. last night because of luvafalooza. Hotels and motels are fully booked, and choc'lats, flowers and fine dining restos are in-demand because of the season.

But what is love? When someone whispered to you ..."I love you" or you would like to say these words to another person... do we exactly know what it meant?



Interacting with my staff, of the ragnarok generation, is a learning experience, though surprising. From a Christian perspective, I was a bit when love and sex is being used interchangeably. While it is true that sex is an expression of love, sex is not necessarily love and there is more to love than sex.

It seems that the world have a limited perspective of love. Love = Sex. And when two people are in love, married or not, sex is part and parcel of the relationship.

There are several kinds of love that I would like to share:

Fileo, Eros and Agape.

Fileo is a love meant for friends. In this kind of love, the sharing of soul (intelligence, emotion, volition, interests) is involve. No I don't mean our acquaintances, but friends that we care. The Fileo love will make you do something when you see your friend traversing a path of destruction. You will not just sit down and say.. "its her/his life". The fileo kind of love enables you to care and remember special dates and occasions, rush to her/his assistance when s/he is in trouble or in need.

Eros is the kind of love that society commonly understands. This is the sexual kind of love. A love felt by two people of the opposite sex and it involves physical attraction. In this love, there is not only union of souls but also of bodies. Plain Eros love can be self serving and short lived. Eros love is capable of defying all forms of logic. It can seek to gain than to give, it can become possessive and envious. Attraction to opposite sex can also be fatal. Instead of strengthening the family unit, it can be the cause for its destruction.

The highest form of love is Agape. This is also called the God kind of love. Agape is the greek word used in John 3:16. It was used as follows:

"for God so agape (love) the world that He gave his one and only son.."

This kind of love "prioritizes" the welfare of another being. It sacrifices personal gain and convenience for the sake of the beloved. Like a mother to her child.

This is also called "stubborn love". Whether the love is returned of not, the person keeps on loving... and hoping... Just like a father to his prodigal son or daughter.

Fileo or Eros can become Agape, when God is the center of the relationship.

Eros with Agape will enable couples who are physically attracted to each other to settle down and build a family.

A Fileo love can evolve to Eros but not all Fileos can become Eros.


Happy Hearts Month

posted by ASKSonnie @ Sunday, February 19, 2006