Another terrific note on the current podcast:
Hi Dick,
I got to thinking about this love thing, and came up with a few kinds of my own —Pure love — this is the love I saw in the movie “Wit. A cancer patient (Emma Thompson) is seen as mostly a research project by the doctors, but a loving nurse befriends her and in one scene, when the patient is comatose and near death, the nurse takes lotion and gently rubs it into her hands.
Perceptional love — the love you feel for someone because your perception of them is different from who they really are.
Animal love — what we receive from our pets, unconditional and always living in the present moment.
Hero worship love — the love people have for celebrities.
Life love — the desire to live, even when life doesn’t seem like much fun.
Substitute (for parents, grandparents, etc.) love — I had this while growing up, from a childless couple who lived next door.
Courageous love — letting someone go, be it by death or just gracefully letting them move on, because that’s what’s best for them or what they want.
Best gift love — a gift someone gives to another person without the other person knowing it.
Self love — probably the most important kind.
Of course, I don’t really know what love is, it’s more inscrutable than life itself! Some spiritual leaders say that, metaphysically, there are only two feelings, love and fear, and that love is letting go of fear. Makes as much sense as any other explanation.
Thanks for the suggestion to think on this.
Betsy
ps– I was just about to send this and thought I’d check your blog first to see if any others had written. I notice Carol already had pet love down, but she has a different idea about self love than I had. I know what she’s talking about, I meant more like when the airline attendants tell parents to get their oxygen first because if they’re not OK, they won’t be any good to their children.
Anything you’d like to add, drop a note to dick@dicksummer.com Thanks.