Forms of Love

• • a physiological need that seeks gratification through the release of tension.
  • a biological function that can be satisfied through sexual intercourse or some other release of sexual tension

  Sex
• • Salvation of sex
  • a psychological desire that seeks procreation or creation through an enduring union with a loved one.
  • Making love
  • built on care and tenderness.
  • It longs to establish an enduring union with the other person, such that both partners experience delight and passion and both are broadened and deepened by the experience.

  Eros
• • Eros is built on this foundation
  • an intimate nonsexual friendship between two people
  • cannot be rushed; it takes time to grow, to develop, and to sink its roots
  • The gradual, relaxed development of true friendship is a prerequisite for the enduring union of two people.

  Philia
• Harry Stack Sullivan placed great importance on preadolescence, that developmental epoch characterized by the need for a chum, someone who is more or less like oneself
• • Philia needs this
  • esteem for the other, the concern for the other’s welfare beyond any gain that one can get out of it; disinterested love, typically, the love of God for man
  • Altruistic love
  • a kind of spiritual love that carries with it the risk of playing God
  • does not depend on any behaviors or characteristics of the other person
  • undeserved and unconditional.

  Agape