No matter how different we may be in terms of identity, upbringing, perspective, and personal experiences, one thing that can unite us is the feeling of love. Till today, despite all our best efforts, it can still be a bit difficult to put the term into a specific definition. That’s because the nature of the feeling can be quite complicated to understand. Many mistake love for being fixated in a romantic sense, and that’s understandable. We’ve been bombarded with countless years of literature, movies, and research on what love is and how it works. To find answers in the present, we need to look back many years to the Greeks, who had perspectives on the different forms of love. They broke down the feeling of love into eight different types of forms, which are:
Feeling of Love Types
- Agape: Unconditional
- Eros: Romantic
- Philia: Affectionate
- Philautia: Self
- Storge: Familiar
- Pragma: Enduring
- Ludus: Playful
- Mania: Obsessive
Each of these forms exists, and we’ve experienced one or another. Parents mostly display Agape, which is unconditional, towards their children. Eros is romantic, a notion we’re all familiar with in today’s world. Be it a spouse, partner, or crush, Eros is present in its form. We direct our affection towards our friends in Philia. Philautia is love for the self. This is not in the selfish or narcissistic sense but more about being able to love oneself in order to love others. Storge is familiar, which means there isn’t a physical or sexual attraction but rather a strong bond and kinship between people. Pragma is endurance based, which makes it a mature form of love that has developed over time. Ludus is focused on feeling of infatuation. Mania, unlike the earlier ones, does not carry a positive inclination as it is related to madness, jealousy, and spiteful anger.
Each of these types is something we’ve experienced, and it is important to be familiar with them so we can have a better understanding of how love works.