Margaret

One Word

It’s a bit late for Valentines but Valentines Day got me thinking about “love”.

The roses and chocolates and the fluffy bears with red hearts for Valentines Day are a bit thin for something that seems to be so significant for human life. For something that is in every layer of ourselves and our human society universally: Love.

The Ancient Greeks had three words for love: Eros, Phillia and Agape. Sanskrit has ninety-six, ancient Persian had 80. In English we label lots of experiences with one word: “love”.

There’s love and marriage, there’s the love of parents for children & children for parents, there’s the soap opera “love”, there’s the compassionate love of people who help those less fortunate, there’s the talk of love for and from a God. Then there’s the lusty love. And the reverse of it all: a lack of love, being brought up without love, not having anyone to love or anyone to love you,