Fiction Friday: A Far-flung Blog Collection

Four Loves

Originally posted by Constantine Grech on alexisdonkin.com blog, 2-5-16

There are four different loves according to the Greeks: agape, eros, storge, and philia.

Of course there is that big kind of love – agape – which is so encompassing and unconditional it appears to trump all others. This is the kind of thing you would experience with the Creator, and perhaps for Creation. It's the biggest kind of love, sending warm fuzzies all through you, leaking out into your actions and words as you skip down the street, bubbling over with joy. Khloe probably doesn't realize it, but of any kind of love, this is hers.

There is eros, which is something like lust or infatuation, or if you want to be poetic, love of beauty. I would argue, eros is a wretched love that rips your heart from your chest, even while promising a sweeter high than no other. This gives you a burning electricity through your body. It's fire in the eyes and the belly. It's the yearning ache when you can't get your fix. It's the kind I'm nearly cursed over – and unfortunately so are my brothers – being a descendant of Apollo.

The third love is storge, the kind of love between family. That is the kind of thing that makes you hold family members to a separate standard, and allows for mistakes and forgiveness where others would never. It's a natural empathy that requires no effort, coming on as you watch your child, parent, or sibling go through pain or joy. You find yourself echoing their sadness or relishing their victories. Perhaps you feel this for your closest friends. For me, this is what I feel with Freyr, and by association, perhaps his sister Dani.

Then there is philia, which is best described as "friendship," though the word is lacking. It is virtuous – the kind of fondness and love you have for your tribe, race, town, school, or other identifier. It has to do with familiarity and enjoyment, but is something more than this. If anything, this is something the Otherworld understands and exhibits – the need to protect and foster those who belong to us runs deep.

Love is complicated. We feel different kinds in different times and places, but we would not be us without it. Humans and Otherworlders are social creatures. Love binds us together, even if sometimes it feels like it rips us apart.