Love

: For the 1960s band, see Love. The term is also used in tennis.

Religious views

Christian

Christians believe that love to God and to other people (God's creation, as they see it) are the two most important things in life (the greatest commandment of God, according to Jesus. See The Gospel of Mark chapter 12, verses 28-34). Saint Augustine summarised this when he wrote "Love God, and do as thou wilt". Saint Paul glorified love as the most important virtue of all in 1 Corinthians, chapter 13. Christians also believe that God felt so much love for man that he sacrificed his son for them. Many Christian theologians see God as the source of love, which is mirrored in humans and their relationships.

Related Topics:
Christians - Jesus - Gospel of Mark - Saint Augustine - Saint Paul - 1 Corinthians - God - Theologians

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In the New Testament, agapē is charitable, selfless, altruistic, and unconditional. It is parental love seen as creating goodness in the world, and is reciprocal between believers and God.

Related Topics:
New Testament - Agapē

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Also used in the New Testament, Phileo is a human response to something that is found to be delightful. Also known as "brotherly love".

Related Topics:
New Testament - Phileo

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Nomos is devotion to God, and the subjugation of the will before Him and His divine law.

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Buddhist

In Buddhism, Kāma is sensuous, sexual love. It is an obstacle on the path to enlightenment, since it is selfish.

Related Topics:
Buddhism - Kāma - Enlightenment

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Karuṇā is compassion and mercy, which reduces the suffering of others. It is complementary to wisdom, and is necessary for enlightenment.

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Adveṣa and maitrī are benevolent love. This love is unconditional and requires considerable self-acceptance. This is quite different from the ordinary love, which is usually about attachment and sex, which rarely occur without self-interest. Instead, in Buddhism it refers to detachment and unselfish interest in others' welfare.

Related Topics:
Adveṣa - Maitrī

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The Bodhisattva ideal in Tibetan Buddhism involves the complete renunciation of oneself in order to take on the burden of a suffering world. The strongest motivation one has in order to take the path of the Bodhisattva is the idea of salvation within unselfish love for others.

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Hindu

In Hinduism kāma is pleasurable, sexual love, personified by the god Kama. For many Hindu schools it is the third end in life (artha).

Related Topics:
Kāma - Kama - Artha

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In contrast to kāma, prema or prem refers to elevated love.

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Karuna is compassion and mercy, which reduces the suffering of others.

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Bhakti is a Sanskrit term from Hinduism meaning 'loving devotion to the supreme God'. A person who practices bhakti is called bhakta. Hindu writers, theologians, and philosophers have distinguished nine forms of devotion that they call bhakti, for example in the Bhagavatha-Purana and according to Tulsidas. The booklet Narada bhakti sutra written by an unknown author distinguishes eleven forms of love.

Related Topics:
Hindu - Bhakti - Bhagavatha-Purana - Tulsidas

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Islamic

In a sense, love does encompass the Islamic view of life as universal brotherhood which applies to all who hold the faith. There are no direct references stating that God is love, but amongst the 99 names of God (Allah), there is the name Al-Wadud or 'the Loving One', which is found in Surah 11:90 as well as Surah 85:14. It refers to God as being "full of loving kindness". In Islam, love is more often than not used as an incentive for sinners to aspire to be as worthy of God's love as they may. One still has God's love, but how the person evaluates his own worth is to his own and God's own counsel. All who hold the faith have God's love, but to what degree or effort he has pleased God depends on the individual itself.

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Ishq, or divine love, is the emphasis of Sufism. Sufis believe that love is a projection of the essence of God to the universe. God desires to recognize beauty, and as if one looks at a mirror to see oneself, God "looks" at itself within the dynamics of nature. Since everything is a reflection of God, the school of Sufism practices to see the beauty inside the apparently ugly. Sufism is oftentimes referred to as the religion of Love. God in Sufism is referred to in three main terms which are the Lover, Loved, and Beloved with the last of these terms being often seen in Sufi poetry. A common viewpoint of Sufism is that through Love humankind can get back to its inherent purity and grace. The saints of Sufism are infamous for being "drunk" due to their Love of God hence the constant reference to wine in Sufi poetry and music.

Related Topics:
Ishq - Sufism

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Jewish

In Hebrew Ahava is the most commonly-used term for both interpersonal love and love of God. Other related but dissimilar terms are Chen (grace) and Hesed, which basically combines the meaning of "affection" and "compassion" and is sometimes rendered in English as "loving-kindness".

Related Topics:
Hebrew - Ahava - Chen - Hesed

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Judaism employs a wide definition of love, both between people and between man and the Deity. As for the former, the Torah states: "Love your neighbor like yourself" (Leviticus 19:18). As for the latter, one is commanded to love God "with all your heart, with all your soul and with all your might" (Deuteronomy 6:5), taken by the Mishnah (a central text of the Jewish oral law) to refer to good deeds, willingness to sacrifice one's life rather than commit certain serious transgressions, willingness to sacrifice all one's possessions and being grateful to the Lord despite adversity (tractate Berachoth 9:5). Rabbinic literature differs how this love can be developed, e.g. by contemplating Divine deeds or witnessing the marvels of nature.

Related Topics:
Judaism - Torah - Leviticus - Deuteronomy - Mishnah - Oral law - Rabbinic literature

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As for love between marital partners, this is deemed an essential ingredient to life: "See life with the wife you love" (Ecclesiastes 9:9). The Biblical book Song of Songs is a considered a romantically-phrased metaphor of love between God and his people, but in its plain reading reads like a love song.

Related Topics:
Ecclesiastes - Song of Songs

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The 20th century Rabbi Eliyahu Eliezer Dessler is frequently quoted as defining love from the Jewish point-of-view as "giving without expecting to take" (from his Michtav me-Eliyahu, vol. 1). Romantic love per se has few echoes in Jewish literature, although the Medieval Rabbi Judah Halevi wrote romantic poetry in Arabic in his younger years (he appears to have regretted this later).

Related Topics:
Eliyahu Eliezer Dessler - Judah Halevi

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Mythological

Different cultures have deified love, typically in both male and female form. Here is a list of the gods and goddesses of love in different mythologies.

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• Áine; goddess of fertility and passionate love in Irish mythology
• Amor or Cupid — god of passionate love in Roman mythology
• Aonghus or Aengus; god of beauty, youth, and sensual love in Irish mythology
• Aphrodite — goddess of beauty and passionate love in Greek mythology
• Eros — god of passionate love in Greek mythology
• Freya — goddess in Norse mythology
• Kama — god of sensual love in Hindu mythology
• Rati — goddess of passionate love in Hindu mythology
• Venus — goddess of beauty and passionate love in Roman mythology
• Xochipilli — god in Aztec mythology