OMG Digital Magazine OMG Issue 334 6th December 2018 | Page 11

OMG Digital Magazine | 334 | Thursday 6 December 2018 • PAGE 11
Relationship
8 Different Types of Love According to the Ancient Greeks
BY MATEO SOL
What different types of love are you
currently experiencing and how are
they impacting your life?
1. “Eros” or Erotic Love
The first kind of love is  Eros, which is  named after the
Greek god of love and fertility. Eros represents the idea of
sexual passion and desire.
kinship and familiarity. Storge is a natural form of affection
that often flows between parents and their children, and
children for their parents. love that is not easily found. We spend so much time and
energy trying to find love and so little time in learning
how to maintain it.
Storge love can even be found among childhood friends
that is later shared as adults. But although storge is a
powerful form of love, it can also become an obstacle on
our spiritual paths, especially when our family or friends
don’t align with or support our journey. Unlike the other types of love, pragma is the result of effort
on both sides. It’s the love between people who’ve learned
to make compromises, have demonstrated patience and
tolerance to make the relationship work.
4. “Ludus” or Playful Love
Although ludus has a bit of the erotic eros in it, it is much
more than that. The Greeks thought of ludus as a playful
form of love, for example, the affection between young
lovers. 7. “Philautia” or Self Love
The Greeks understood that in order to care for others,
we must first learn to care for ourselves. This form of self-
love is not the unhealthy vanity and self-obsession that is
focused on personal fame, gain and fortune as is the case
with Narcissism.
Eros is an exulted and beautifully idealistic love that in
the hearts of the spiritually mature can be used to “recall
knowledge of beauty” (as Socrates put it) through Tantra
and  spiritual sex. But when misguided, eros can be
misused, abused and indulged in, leading to impulsive
acts and broken hearts. Ludus is that feeling we have when we go through the
early stages of falling in love with someone, e.g. the
fluttering heart, flirting, teasing, and feelings of euphoria.
Playfulness in love is an essential ingredient that is often
lost in long-term relationships. Yet playfulness is one of
the secrets to keeping the childlike innocence of your love
alive, interesting and exciting. Instead, philautia is self-love in its healthiest form. It shares
the Buddhist philosophy of “self-compassion” which is the
deep understanding that only once you have the strength
to love yourself and feel comfortable in your own skin, will
you be able to provide love to others. As Aristotle put it,
“All friendly feelings for others are an extension of a man’s
feelings for himself.”
Eros is a primal and powerful fire that burns out quickly.
It needs its flame to be fanned through one of the deeper
forms of love below as it is centered around  the selfish
aspects of love, that is, personal infatuation and physical
pleasure. 5. “Mania” or Obsessive Love
Mania love is a type of love that leads a partner into a type
of madness and obsessiveness. It occurs when there is an
imbalance between eros and ludus. You cannot share what you do not have. If you do not
love yourself, you cannot love anyone else either. The
only way to truly be happy is to find that unconditional
love for yourself. Only once you learn to love and
understand yourself, will you be ready to search for the
spiritual freedom of the Self.
The ancient Greeks considered Eros to be dangerous
and frightening as it involves a “loss of control” through
the primal impulse to procreate. Eros is a passionate and
intense form of love that arouses romantic and sexual
feelings.
2. “Philia” or Affectionate Love
The second type of love is  philia,  or friendship. The
ancient Greeks valued philia far above eros because it was
considered a love between equals.
Plato felt that physical attraction was not a necessary
part of love, hence the use of the word platonic to mean,
“without physical attraction.” Philia is a type of love that is
felt among friends who’ve endured hard times together.
As Aristotle put it, philia is a “dispassionate virtuous
love”  that is  free from the intensity of sexual attraction.
It often involves the feelings of loyalty among friends,
camaraderie among teammates, and the sense of sacrifice
for your pack.
3. “Storge” or Familiar Love
Although storge closely resembles philia in that it is a love
without physical attraction, storge is primarily to do with
To those who experience mania, love itself is a means of
rescuing themselves; a reinforcement of their own value
as the sufferer of poor self-esteem. This person wants to
love and be loved to find a sense of self-value. Because
of this, they can become possessive and jealous lovers,
feeling as though they desperately “need” their partners.
If the other partner fails to reciprocate with the same kind
of mania love, many issues prevail. This is why mania can
often lead to issues such as codependency.
6. “Pragma” or Enduring Love
Pragma is a love that has aged, matured and developed
over time. It is beyond the physical, it has transcended the
casual, and it is a unique harmony that has formed over
time.
You can find  pragma  in married couples who’ve been
together for a long time, or in friendships that have
endured for decades. Unfortunately pragma is a type of
8. “Agape” or Selfless Love
The highest and most radical type of love according to the
Greeks is agape, or selfless unconditional love. This type of
love is not the sentimental outpouring that often passes as
love in our society. It has nothing to do with the condition-
based type of love that our sex-obsessed culture tries to
pass as love.
Agape is what some call spiritual love. It is an unconditional
love, bigger than ourselves, a boundless compassion,
an infinite empathy. It is what the Buddhists describe as
“mettā” or “universal loving kindness.” It is the purest form
of love that is free from desires and expectations, and
loves regardless of the flaws and shortcomings of others.
Agape is the love that is felt for that which we intuitively
know as the divine truth: the love that accepts, forgives
and believes for our greater good.