Sunday, November 11, 2012

Styles of Loving

One of the most interesting concepts from this chapter to me was the idea of "styles of loving". There are six styles of loving, three primary, and three secondary.
The primary styles are:
Eros - dramatic, passionate love
Ludus - playful love
Storge - comfortable, stable love

The secondary styles are:
Pragma - a combination of Ludus and Storge, practical love
Mania - a combination of Eros and Ludus, manic, unsure love
Agape - a combination of Storge and Eros, selfless, passionate love

The reason I found this so fascinating was because I had never thought to put the different ways people love each other into categories. It made so much more sense once each type of love had a title. Also, as I was reading I was trying to categorize myself into one of the types, but then after describing the styles Wood mentioned at that we all tend to have combinations of styles and that they can change based on our experiences. This totally opened my eyes to the complexity and subtlety of love and loving. After thinking back on my past relationships, I found that Wood was completely right. I found that the styles I've experienced are Eros, Storge, and Mania, with some touches of Ludus and Pragma. I was amazed by how inconstant we are with the way we love. Overall, this was a compelling, fascinating concept for me :)

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