15 Different Types of Love

[bogeyman]

So What is Love?

"Here is my general conception of love: It’s a warm feeling based upon knowing and accepting someone. This relationship often involves mutual learning, caring and growth. Also, when you love someone you generally want them to be happy.
The dictionary.com definition of love had a few versions:

-a profoundly tender passionate affection for another person
-a sexual passion or desire
-a feeling of warm personal attachment or deep affection

Which could lead to another question (and article): Is love a concept, feeling or action?

But for today, below are some different kinds of love that we hear mentioned. These are not dictionary definitions; I am defining them with my stream-of-conscious associations. This will give you an opportunity to think about each kind of love and offer your definitions as well.

15 Different Kinds of Love:



Infatuation- loving feelings towards a love object that are largely based upon fantasy and idealization (instead of experience). Often when partners get to know each other, infatuation diminishes.

Romantic Love- An abiding love for a partner with whom you feel passion, attraction, caring and respect.

Eros- a passionate love usually involving sexual feelings for a love interest.

Companionate Love- feelings of warmth towards a friend with whom you love to spend time

Unconditional Love- A type of affection and caring that is so strong that you feel it consistently, regardless of what that other person does

Conditional Love- A love that requires specific action or conditions in order to be maintained. For example, at its extreme, a parent who gives very conditional love would only love his child when he gets straight A’s, becomes a surgeon and has two children. The love is based on outside conditions and when they do not occur, the love is withdrawn.

Puppy Love- A childish, innocent temporary crush on someone that you don’t know well.

Maternal Love- This term usually connotes love that is nurturing, accepting and protective. In actuality this love can also be given by a father etc.

Paternal Love- This term connotes love that involves guidance and some authority. Paternal love usually prepares a child to be ready for the outside world. Again, in reality this type of love is not gender specific.

Soulmate Love- This type of love is described as a love that has survived multiple life times. Not everyone believes in this concept.

Spiritual/Divine Love- This type of love recognizes the Divine light in everyone and everything. Love is given to everyone as an act of loving God.

Love of your country or patriotism- This is love for the place you live or the place that were born. It is a type of loyalty and a special feeling of belonging that you attribute to that specific geographic location.

Self-Love- This is a positive feeling that you have about who you are and what you deserve. It often is expressed by treating yourself well, respecting yourself, wanting yourself to be happy and expecting others to respect you too.

Brotherly Love- This term connotes having a feeling of love for your neighbor, because all humanity is considered to be part of a larger family of human beings.

Tough Love- This term is used to describe a love that is expressed by setting boundaries for the good of the other person. So for example, a parent may send their teenager to rehab if he is drug addicted, even if he does not want to go. They feel that this is an act of love because it stems from a desire for their son’s ultimate good and happiness."

Any others?

References:

http://wiki.answers.com/Q/How_many_d..._Bible_mention
http://talkaboutmarriage.com/general...inds-love.html
http://www.knowledgesutra.com/forums...types-of-love/
http://talkaboutmarriage.com/general...inds-love.html
http://psychology.about.com/od/lovea...riesoflove.htm
http://www.mindreality.com/emotion-o...t-motive-force
http://www.visionarylead.org/article...lationship.htm

[wynderer]

nice post, Bogeyman -- i have come to the conclusion that friendship is the highest expression of Love on this planet -- & the really lucky ones find their best friend & their mate in one person

also i like to say that Love is an action word -- Sun Bear used to say, 'If your philosophy doesn't grow corn, I don't wanna hear about it'

[aranuk]

A book worth reading is "A road less travelled" by Scott Peck an American doctor of psychology if my memory serves. It is about the love we give our children. In a nutshell as a summary he says that the love we give our children must serve them to become independant adults and the kind of wrong love given makes them dependant on their parents.

Stan

[realitycorrodes]

Love is a meaningless word due to too many different meanings...and is quite often a form of mind control.

I prefer the word "Harmony"

To live in harmony with all that is around one is what I believe we all seek - the penultimate experience!

Their happiness is our happiness - the hallmark of harmony - the perfect song of the whole universe.

For me it does not involve only two people it involves all people, all animals, all plants, all stars, all galaxies - all in tune - humming so to speak!

Bliss, Bliss, Bliss!

[watchZEITGEISTnow]

Don't mean to sound blunt, but to me love is just that LOVE!

It's the K.I.S.S theory, usually the best too

[realitycorrodes]

I think alot of these quotes from Ghandhi capture the essence of real love....for the being of truth these words will be obvious! Enjoy
------------------------------
“The day the power of love overrules the love of power, the world will know peace.”
[Many have been asking, "What can I do? How do we respond to this onslaught against humanity we're witnessing?" Here are some examples of one man's response, and his profound effect will be forever felt. The love, the challenge, the embrace. Let them stir your heart and change your life. Love, Zen]
_________
“Be the change that you wish to see in the world.”
“Live as if you were to die tomorrow. Learn as if you were to live forever.”
“An eye for an eye will only make the whole world blind.”
“Happiness is when what you think, what you say, and what you do are in harmony.”
“First they ignore you, then they ridicule you, then they fight you, and then you win.”
“When I despair, I remember that all through history the way of truth and love have always won. There have been tyrants and murderers, and for a time, they can seem invincible, but in the end, they always fall. Think of it–always.”
“Where there is love there is life.”
“Seven Deadly Sins–Wealth without work
Pleasure without conscience
Science without humanity
Knowledge without character
Politics without principle
Commerce without morality
Worship without sacrifice.”
“I like your Christ, I do not like your Christians. Your Christians are so unlike your Christ.”
“The weak can never forgive. Forgiveness is the attribute of the strong.”
“Freedom is not worth having if it does not include the freedom to make mistakes.”
“God has no religion.”
“I will not let anyone walk through my mind with their dirty feet.”
“Hate the sin, love the sinner.”
“Nobody can hurt me without my permission.”
“Prayer is not asking. It is a longing of the soul. It is daily admission of one’s weakness. It is better in prayer to have a heart without words than words without a heart.”
“A man is but the product of his thoughts. What he thinks, he becomes.”

“To give pleasure to a single heart by a single act is better than a thousand heads bowing in prayer.”
“The best way to find yourself is to lose yourself in the service of others.”
“Your beliefs become your thoughts,
Your thoughts become your words,
Your words become your actions,
Your actions become your habits,
Your habits become your values,
Your values become your destiny.”
“The future depends on what you do today.”
“Man often becomes what he believes himself to be. If I keep on saying to myself that I cannot do a certain thing, it is possible that I may end by really becoming incapable of doing it. On the contrary, if I have the belief that I can do it, I shall surely acquire the capacity to do it even if I may not have it at the beginning.”
“You must not lose faith in humanity. Humanity is like an ocean; if a few drops of the ocean are dirty, the ocean does not become dirty.”
“Let the first act of every morning be to make the following resolve for the day:- I shall not fear anyone on Earth.
- I shall fear only God.
- I shall not bear ill will toward anyone.
- I shall not submit to injustice from anyone.
- I shall conquer untruth by truth. And in resisting untruth, I shall put up with all suffering.”
“The greatness of a nation and its moral progress can be judged by the way its animals are treated.”
“Each night, when I go to sleep, I die. And the next morning, when I wake up, I am reborn.”
“Whatever you do will be insignificant, but it is very important that you do it.”
“What difference does it make to the dead, the orphans and the homeless, whether the mad destruction is wrought under the name of totalitarianism or in the holy name of liberty or democracy?”
“To believe in something, and not to live it, is dishonest.”
“Truth never damages a cause that is just.”
“There are people in the world so hungry, that God cannot appear to them except in the form of bread.”
“Earth provides enough to satisfy every man’s needs, but not every man’s greed.”
“It is easy enough to be friendly to one’s friends. But to befriend the one who regards himself as your enemy is the quintessence of true religion. The other is mere business.”
“It is unwise to be too sure of one’s own wisdom. It is healthy to be reminded that the strongest might weaken and the wisest might err.”
“Whenever you are confronted with an opponent. Conquer him with love.”
“Keep your thoughts positive because your thoughts become your words. Keep your words positive because your words become your behavior. Keep your behavior positive because your behavior becomes your habits. Keep your habits positive because your habits become your values. Keep your values positive because your values become your destiny.”
“I object to violence because when it appears to do good, the good is only temporary; the evil it does is permanent.”
“You can chain me, you can torture me, you can even destroy this body, but you will never imprison my mind.”

“You may never know what results come of your actions, but if you do nothing, there will be no results.”
“Strength does not come from physical capacity. It comes from an indomitable will.(Young India, Volume 1, Issue 52; 1919)”
“Love is the strongest force the world possesses and yet it is the humblest imaginable.”
“Action expresses priorities.”
“There is more to life than simply increasing its speed.”
“My Life is My Message”
“There is nothing that wastes the body like worry, and one who has any faith in God should be ashamed to worry about anything whatsoever. ”
“I offer you peace. I offer you love. I offer you friendship. I see your beauty. I hear your need. I feel your feelings.”
“What we are doing to the forests of the world is but a mirror reflection of what we are doing to ourselves and to one another.”
“It’s the action, not the fruit of the action, that’s important. You have to do the right thing. It may not be in your power, may not be in your time, that there’ll be any fruit. But that doesn’t mean you stop doing the right thing. You may never know what results come from your action. But if you do nothing, there will be no result.”
“Truth is one, paths are many.”

[conk]

True universal love is unconditional. A man may fall in love with a woman because of her personality or looks. What happens when or if these attributes change or go away? His love may diminish or disappear. This was not true love, it was infatuation or sexual attraction. Real love prevails even when conditions change.