Love Philosophy

The Altruistic

This is selfless love, also known as "Agape".
It is spritual and unconditional, with no concern for personal gain.

I want to make it clear that 'Altruism' isn't the same as 'True love'.

True love is about surrendering oneself, while altruism is about selflessness.

A mother's love towards her child, is an example of true love. She has surrendered and dedicated her life for her child.
While, charity is an example of altruism; where the the person doesn't expect anything in return.

Even those with paranoia, obsession or any mental illness are capable of loving someone truly. But their personality or illness prevents them from expressing it, in an 'altruistic' way.

Yes. Altruism may be an expression of 'Love', particularly 'True love' , but 'True love' isn't the same as 'Altruism'.

Here is a story which depicts altruistic form of relationship.

Once upon a time, there live a married couple.
During breakfast, the wife would cut a loaf of bread and give the soft middle part to her husband, while she had the heel of the loaf.
She did this for years and twenty five years passed by.
On their twenty fifth wedding anniversary, she tells her husband
"May I please have the soft middle part of the bread, only for today? It is my favourite."
Her husband replied,
"Of course! All these years, I had the notion, that you preferred the heel of the bread.
Even when I loved the heel more than the soft middle part; I had thought to myself, that my wife should have it!"

The above story is about altruistic relationship, where you put your partner before yourself.

Some examples of 'The agape' type of relationships are:

The 1995 hollywood movie "French kiss", where the female protagonist uses her whole life savings and gives it to male protagonist, so he can fulfil his dream.
It has a bollywood version, titled "Pyaar toh hona hi tha"

The 2004 romantic comedy, "50 First Dates".
The female protagonist 'Lucy' suffers from anterograde amnesia( she is unable to retain new memories).
The male character 'Henry' resolves to win her love all over again, each and every day.

The 2010 animated movie "Tangled", where Eugene chooses to cut off Rapunzel's hair, over his life; and Rapunzel chose to be a slave to her foster mother inorder to save Eugene's life.

The anime "Clannad" (I can't stop emphasizing how beautiful this anime is.)

The manga/anime "Ore Monogatari"

The protagonists of the anime "Violet Evergarden"

Here is a quote by Winston Churchill,
"We make a living by what we get, but we make a life by what we give."

***

That concludes the 6 types of relationships.

I want to make a special mention, that these types aren't exclusive of each other.
More than one type may co-exist together.

A couple may be best friends and passionate.
A couple maybe in an obsessive and passionate relation.
Or a couple maybe best friends and obsessive.
Or a couple, initially maybe in a playful relation, that later turns into 'Storge', then 'altruism'
Or maybe a rational couple, may end up being passionate later.

Also, one of the person maybe obsessive, while other one 'altruistic'; or one of them 'rational', while another 'passionate'.

Any of the above, and many more plausible situations can occur.

Thankyou for reading until now ^^
Next few chapters will deal with 'The dive' in detail, which is the most common process of love and hence, considered the realistic one.