Love this. As it happens, I wrote about the different kinds of love in the context of Self-Love last year.
Self-love sounds ridiculous to a modern person (unless you are a self-obsessed narcissist but most people aren’t, we just overuse that term) because as a culture we flattened the term ‘love’. But once we unpack ‘love’ in its glory of different kinds, it makes more sense and loving oneself as a creative act is a necessary step on our way to compassion with others, self, and also, most importantly, transcendence.
The commens here don’t allow for attachments but you can find my piece under my articles under the name The Trouble with Self Love.
I adore your work and connect with it on inexplicable levels: not only am I obsessed with the Odyssey, but I have also written an article about the Erotes (types of love) present in Homer's work https://www.athensjournals.gr/philosophy/2025-4-2-4-Dorado.pdf
Hell'o, I'm new to Substack, and this is the first article, that I have stumbled upon. And, I would say that for someone like me, who loves to expand their vocabulary, this was heaven. I learned a lot of new words, and 5 synonyms of "Love", which hold even deeper meaning than the word itself.
Why break out self love when it’s a clear permutation of philia and was basically irrelevant to the people of that time? The modern obsession with self love will lead to much more harm than good. A super insidious half truth that’s inoffensive enough everyone can claim it as their slogan.
"You may believe there are different kinds of love. You may believe there is one type of love for this and another for that; that it is possible to love one person in one way and another person in a different way. Love is one. It has no separate parts or degrees; there are no different kinds of love nor different levels; within it, there are no divergences or distinctions. It is consistent with itself, without any change in any part of it. No person or circumstance can cause it to change.
The meaning of love remains veiled to anyone who believes that love can change, for they fail to realize that a changing love is an impossibility. And so, they believe that at times they can love and at other times hate. They also believe that love can be offered to only one person while being withheld from others. Whoever believes these things about love demonstrates that they do not understand its meaning.
Love cannot judge. Since it is one in itself, it beholds everyone as one.
No law obeyed by the world can help you understand the meaning of love. The world's beliefs were conceived to obscure the meaning of love and to keep it hidden and secret. There is not a single principle upheld by the world that does not violate the truth of what love is" —Lesson 127 of A Course in Miracles.
Just as the sun rises for everyone—for prison courtyards and five-star hotels alike— love is a personal state within each of us from which we live every moment, wherever we may be and with whomever we may be.
Blue is the love of the person who works assiduously in order that others may benefit
Green is humanitarian, brotherly and sisterly love for all of humanity
Gold is the nurturant love of parent to child or dominant caring partner to submissive partner
Pink is the filial devotion of child to parent or submissive partner in a nurturance and devotion relationship toward the dominant partner. (It’s best if dom and sub take turns in these roles)
This was a beautiful read 🩵
Thank you for sharing our article on eros!
It’s excellent!
Love this. As it happens, I wrote about the different kinds of love in the context of Self-Love last year.
Self-love sounds ridiculous to a modern person (unless you are a self-obsessed narcissist but most people aren’t, we just overuse that term) because as a culture we flattened the term ‘love’. But once we unpack ‘love’ in its glory of different kinds, it makes more sense and loving oneself as a creative act is a necessary step on our way to compassion with others, self, and also, most importantly, transcendence.
The commens here don’t allow for attachments but you can find my piece under my articles under the name The Trouble with Self Love.
I adore your work and connect with it on inexplicable levels: not only am I obsessed with the Odyssey, but I have also written an article about the Erotes (types of love) present in Homer's work https://www.athensjournals.gr/philosophy/2025-4-2-4-Dorado.pdf
Thanks so much for the link to the paper which I see cites references to Love in the Odyssey.
Hell'o, I'm new to Substack, and this is the first article, that I have stumbled upon. And, I would say that for someone like me, who loves to expand their vocabulary, this was heaven. I learned a lot of new words, and 5 synonyms of "Love", which hold even deeper meaning than the word itself.
This is good guidance for interpersonal psychology too. Human relationship is often flawed due to misunderstanding of different types of love.
Why break out self love when it’s a clear permutation of philia and was basically irrelevant to the people of that time? The modern obsession with self love will lead to much more harm than good. A super insidious half truth that’s inoffensive enough everyone can claim it as their slogan.
"You may believe there are different kinds of love. You may believe there is one type of love for this and another for that; that it is possible to love one person in one way and another person in a different way. Love is one. It has no separate parts or degrees; there are no different kinds of love nor different levels; within it, there are no divergences or distinctions. It is consistent with itself, without any change in any part of it. No person or circumstance can cause it to change.
The meaning of love remains veiled to anyone who believes that love can change, for they fail to realize that a changing love is an impossibility. And so, they believe that at times they can love and at other times hate. They also believe that love can be offered to only one person while being withheld from others. Whoever believes these things about love demonstrates that they do not understand its meaning.
Love cannot judge. Since it is one in itself, it beholds everyone as one.
No law obeyed by the world can help you understand the meaning of love. The world's beliefs were conceived to obscure the meaning of love and to keep it hidden and secret. There is not a single principle upheld by the world that does not violate the truth of what love is" —Lesson 127 of A Course in Miracles.
Just as the sun rises for everyone—for prison courtyards and five-star hotels alike— love is a personal state within each of us from which we live every moment, wherever we may be and with whomever we may be.
i could never get tired of learning these loves
Love also has colours:-
Blue is the love of the person who works assiduously in order that others may benefit
Green is humanitarian, brotherly and sisterly love for all of humanity
Gold is the nurturant love of parent to child or dominant caring partner to submissive partner
Pink is the filial devotion of child to parent or submissive partner in a nurturance and devotion relationship toward the dominant partner. (It’s best if dom and sub take turns in these roles)
Grey is the empathic love of sharing suffering
What other colours of love occur to you?
Excellent overview of these five words. I was only familiar with three of them.
the greeks indeed have words for everything ❤️
sorry but I didn't enjoy or really understand your explanation of storge - especially the comparison to the quote from the Little Prince
Nice
Is it just me, or does seeing the word, 'Philia', instinctually conjures images of political and religious representatives and organizations?
/sarcasm
/not sarcasm
I’ll take all the live (love—teehee) I can get.