Types of love

Love is one of the greatest feelings in the world.

It begins with the love of a mother to a child. Since then, humans want love and it differs at each stage of life.

Ancient Greeks explained various types of love:

Eros is the first kind of love. It is an erotic love which symbolizes sexual desires. Often this love involves loss of control, hence it can be dangerous.

Philia is an affectionate love. It is expressed as love between equals or friends. This type of love is free from sexual attraction.

Storge is a type of familiar love. That means the love between kinship and familiar people. It can be best described as the love between parents and children and vice versa. It is one of the most powerful forms of love. Storge can also be found among childhood friends when they become adults.

Ludus is affection between young lovers. It is a playful love. It can be described as the feeling of early stages of falling in love. It involves flirting, teasing etc. It is an exciting love.

Mania as the name suggests involves madness. It is a love of obsession. It includes possessiveness, jealousy, dependency etc. It also creates several problems if the partner does not reciprocate the same kind of love.

Pragma is a matured or enduring love. Normally this type of love exists between married couples that lived for a long-time or friends that have endured years together.  Pragma is a type of love which is beyond physical needs. It includes compromises, patience and tolerance to maintain the relationship.

Philautia is described as self-love. One should learn first to love oneself. He/she should have deep understanding of inner-self and be happy about his/her skin texture, personality etc.

Agape is selfless love. It is an unconditional love and can be described as divine love. It is the purest form of love which is free from any desires. Agape ignores the flaws of others.

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