A quest to discover what love means
The Greeks understood that love wears many masks. Eros for passionate desire, Philia for deep friendship, Ludus for playful affection, Agape for selfless love, Pragma for enduring commitment, Philautia for self-love, and Storge for familial warmth. One word was never enough.
The premonition of love. Not love at first sight, but the certain knowledge that love is inevitable upon first meeting someone.
"Love is the whole thing. We are only pieces."
-- RumiA deep melancholic longing for someone or something loved that is absent. More than missing -- it is the love that remains after someone or something is gone, a bittersweet ache that proves the love was real. It is the ghost of presence felt in absence.
The anticipation of love arriving -- repeatedly checking outside to see if the expected loved one has come.
Love is not a destination but a practice. It is the daily choosing of another's wellbeing alongside your own. It is patience when patience is hardest, honesty when honesty is frightening, and presence when absence would be easier. Love is the bravest thing we do.
"Oh moon" -- a term of endearment equating the beloved with the beauty and radiance of the moon itself.
"Where there is love there is life."
-- Mahatma GandhiIn every culture, in every age, people have written words of love they never delivered. Folded into drawers, tucked behind books, burned in shame or kept as private treasures. These unsent love letters are perhaps the purest expressions of love -- written without expectation of return, without performance, without audience. They are love for the sake of feeling it, expressed for the sake of saying it, even if only to the silence of a page.
A deep emotional bond formed through shared experiences -- love that accumulates like sediment over time, beyond romance.
"To love and be loved is to feel the sun from both sides."
-- David ViscottThe butterflies, the giddiness, the electric thrill of romance -- that rush when love surprises you with joy.
"Perhaps love is the process of my leading you gently back to yourself."
-- Antoine de Saint-ExuperyThe quest continues. Every love discovered illuminates another facet of what it means to be human. Every culture, every language, every quiet moment between two people adds another treasure to the collection. The quest for love's meaning is itself an act of love.