The Different Perceptions on Love

Love is a complex thing to define. There are many things associated with it, many people depend on it, and a lot of individuals believe in it. It is like a vast ocean containing different kinds of wonders when you swim deeper in it. The more you try to define love, the simpler its definition becomes. Moreover, many have created some beautiful masterpieces because of love. These works include the book The Color of Love by Raymond Quattlebaum, the song Little Things by One Direction, the movie 500 Days of Summer directed by Marc Webb, and more.

Every person and every platform in life truly has diverse views and meanings of love. With that being said, get to know the different perceptions of love in different aspects of life.

Religious perceptions

There are several religions in the world, and each of them has their own views towards love.

• In Christianity, the general comprehension on love is God. He is known to be the Holy One who showered people with love. Moreover, 1 Corinthians 1-13 of the Holy Bible talks the characteristics of love which is, “Love is patient, love is kind. It does not envy, it does not boast, it is not proud. It does not dishonor others, it is not self-seeking, it is not easily angered, it keeps no record of wrongs. Love does not delight in evil but rejoices with the truth. It always protects, always trusts, always hopes, always perseveres. Love never fails. But where there are prophecies, they will cease; where there are tongues, they will be stilled; where there is knowledge, it will pass away.”
• In Judaism, the word used to define the love for self, love between God, and love towards His creations is ahava or אהבה. On the hand, there is another word that is widely used in Hebrew that ought to describe several disposition of love between humans. To love others is a commandment that is ordered in the Torah, specifically in Leviticus 19:18 which states that “Love your neighbor like yourself,” while the commandment that tells people to love God is found in Deuteronomu 6:5 that says “with all your heart, with all your soul and with all your might.”
• In Islam, love is known to cover the Islamic perceptions of life as a general fellowship that applies to everyone who has faith in Allah. The term birr in the Holy Book of the Muslim called Qur’an is used to describe the love and kindness that kids shower their parents while the Arabic word ishq means divine love that is used to highlight Tasawwuf in the Islamic custom.

Cultural perceptions

Culture is one of the aspects in this world that can create a huge impact on the lives of people and everything that revolves it. Thus, here are the usual cultural views on love from different places:

• The Ancient Greek identifies many diverse senses wherein love is utilized. Hence, they distinguishes love in four different kinds, which are storge that refers to closeness or kinship, philia that refers to comradeship or platonic want, agape that refers to selflessness or divine love, and eros that refers to romantic or sexual wants.
• When the English language has only one term that pertains to love, the Japanese language on the other hand has three. It is known in Japan that the word love encompasses a wide array of feeling and behavioral events. The three different terms are ai that means selfless or maternal love, koi that symbolizes romantic love, and ren’ai nearly takes after koi.

Political perceptions

Free love pertains to the social movement that refuses the idea of marriage for it is viewed as a type of social captivity or oppression. One of this movement’s objectives is to split up the state from sexual things, like adultery, marriage, and more. Free love claims that the sexual issues are the businesses of the involved individuals and nobody else.

Philosophical perceptions

Social philosophy and ethics are the platforms that try to elaborate the disposition of love. The philosophical study about love encompasses the duties of identifying the different types of intrapersonal love, questioning whether love can be validated or not, interrogating the value of love, and asking what could be the effects of love on the independence of the lover and his loved one.