Love in its Simplest Form

Taking out the word Love
Just a while ago during the LEAP (Lasallian Enrichment Alternative Program), I attended my very first and (as far as I think would also be the) last German class. I sat inside the room with my blockmate for three hours, listening to the foreign exchange student and a woman as they teach the class how to speak the basic German words. The words seemed really hard to pronounce, however they are worth the practice.

Das ist es. The teachers indeed forgot to mention their names even after the class. They immediately started by asking us why we chose the German subject over all the others for our LEAP. *No offense to them, but the real reason why I chose German was because I was left with 0 slots in baking and I don’t like afternoon classes.* And so the classes began. I sang the German alphabet together with them like an innocent nursery kid. The song goes like this:

A (a), B (be), C (se), D (de)…Wunderbar!

Too much for the song, I also learned that the smiley face that I used to make when texting was a special letter in the German language. Hmm…so that’s why we have these characters in our cellphone. Then, phrases on how to introduce yourself to someone were taught~ Mein Name ist Abby. Ich komme aus Philippinen. Und du? (My name is Abby. I came from the Philippines. And you? / What about you?) [Picture on left from Smiley but currently unavailable]

The class consumed only two hours, giving us an earlier dismissal. I was somehow disappointed for I didn’t learn how to say the word “love” in German. Thinking about that, why love? What is love?

Love in Different Points of View

Love. I gave away many of this to the people around me. Indeed, it is a complicated thing to define. We can only feel it but not see it with our naked eye. Some might say that it is all about feelings- the passion that one has to another. For in love, emotions are involved. More than that, love is a thing that can be said to be about God Himself. Reading the book of John in the Bible, it says that “God is love” in the sense that all the characteristics that we find in love are the characteristics that we can also find in God. Therefore, through God alone can a person get love. [Picture on right from Old Time Candy]

According to the famous philosopher named Plato, love is a desire to own something good. And in this case, it is a desire to get wisdom. Love is not about the physical; love is more than that. It is BEYOND the physical (also called as Platonic love). Through it, a person can learn and improve. The love between men or the “uranian” love, as he had called, is the highest form of love. His teacher, Socrates, in fact had students who are also his lovers at the same time (which really sounds disgusting if we base it in an erotic love...-_-). 
What is erotic love? As I could remember back in highschool, there are actually different kinds and levels of love. The love that we have for our friends, the love we have for eating, the love that we give to our partners...they are all not the same. Love can be classified into three groups and these are the Agape, Phileo and Eros. Agape is about God’s love which is unconditional and sacrificial. It is considered to be perfect and is the “extension” of the other two kinds of love. Phileo then is about the brotherly or sisterly love. It is the love that we give to our friends and family. Eros is the physical love. It is the kind of love that is said to be selfish with sexual desires for each other.

We, being humans, are under the Eros and Phileo kinds of love. For we are unlike God, we can only love conditionally. I somewhat agree with these for only God has the greatest love. Being able to die in the cross to save us all is enough to prove that. So why can we only love conditionally? Why can we not love in the same way as God did? Can we really love unconditionally?

Love in its simplest form is not simple at all. The reason why we cannot love unconditionally is because we always expect the person we love to also love us in return. Although not all the love that we give returns to us, the fact that we expected it from the person makes our love to be conditional. We can never be like God. The love that we give to others cannot be compared to the love that He gives to all of us. By the way, God's love cannot be measured.

Love and Fire
Just like some people, I usually compare love with the fire that lights up by the time that someone find his other half. When will one find his other half is still unknown. Sometimes on a person's way to find love, accidents might happen. The person can bump into other people and think that he/she is the right one for him. He may get hurt if he is wrong, leaving some scars of love (like the burns we can get from the fire). Who is the right one? No one can tell. Only God knows the answer. [Picture below from RedFish]