A current NY Life insurance commercial speaks of “agape” love as it shows people helping other people. So what is agape love and what are the other “loves”?
In 1960, C.S. Lewis (yes the one from The Lion, the Witch and the Wardrobe) wrote about 4 loves: affection (storge), friendship (philia), romantic (eros), and charity (agape). Here is a little explanation of each.
Affection includes an array of loves but relies on the familiar. Some examples are our love of our classmates/coworkers, daily routines like reading the newspaper or watching a certain show, wearing a favorite article of clothing, and is the majority of the love we experience even if we don’t label it as such.
Friendship is the love dismissed. It is the most time consuming and least celebrated because few experience it. Lewis says friendship must be about something shared and without that connection there can be not friendship love.
Romantic, of course, is about lovers. Lewis states that the problem of romantic love is to follow blindly after a feeling of passion. When it is successful; “spontaneously and without effort we have fulfilled the law of loving our neighbor as we love ourselves.”
Agape or charity is our chief aim with unconditional love. The other three loves are the training ground for charity to grow. Lewis says “we are made to love and we are in want of it”.
For more information go to www.cslewis.com or perhaps just read the poem Desiderata written by Max Erhmann in the 1920’s. Make love your aim.
Healthy Living,
Peter McKenna, M.D.
513.793.5772
McKenna Cosmetic Surgery Center . 10577 Montgomery Road . Cincinnati . OH . 45242
A Cincinnati Magazine “Top Doc” since 1998
