The Culture of Love
Educators worldwide have dissected the culture of love in songs, films, and novels. It is a recurring theme of maturing life and a vibrant theme for youth. The nature of love has been a mainstay in philosophy since the time of the Ancient Greeks.
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Love and Philosophy
From Plato’s Symposium to Aristotle’s secular theory of love, love has been a philosophical constant. It has been examined in the context of metaphysics, religion, human nature, politics, and ethics.
Greek Interpretation of Love: Eros, Philia, and Agape
The philosophical exploration of love logically begins with questions about its nature. The Greek terms, eros, philia, and agape, provide a reference point for these discussions.
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Eros: The Passionate Love
Eros refers to a passionate, intense desire for something. In Plato’s writings, eros is seen as a common desire that seeks transcendental beauty.
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Philia: The Love of Friendship
In contrast to eros, philia entails a fondness and appreciation of the other. For Aristotle, the proper basis for philia is objective, involving shared dispositions, values, and pursuits.
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Agape: The Unconditional Love
Agape refers to the paternal love of God for man and of man for God. But extends to include a brotherly love for all humanity.
The Complexity of Love: Further Conceptual Considerations
Presuming love has a nature, it should be describable within the concepts of language. But the language and notions of “love”, “being in love”, “loving someone” might not capture the true essence of this deep emotion.
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Love and Emotion
Emotivists would hold that love is non-propositional, transcending rational examination. Phenomenologists such as Scheler present love as a non-cognitive phenomenon, implying a passivity in the lover before the beloved.
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Love and Spiritual Response
Others consider love a spiritual response, the recognition of a soul that completes or complements one’s own soul. This view incorporates mystical as well as traditional romantic notions of love.
The Nature of Love: Romantic Love
Romantic love is considered to be of a higher metaphysical and ethical status than sexual or physical attractiveness alone. The idea of romantic love stems from the Platonic tradition that love is a desire for beauty.
The Nature of Love: Physical, Emotional, Spiritual
Some propose that love is physical, a series of actions and preferences, observable to oneself and others. Others assert that love is an aesthetic response, knowable through the emotional and conscious feeling it provokes.
Love: Ethics and Politics
The ethical aspects in love involve the moral appropriateness of loving, and the forms it should or should not take. In the area of political philosophy, love can be studied from a variety of perspectives, including social dominance and patriarchy.
The philosophy of love is a complex and rich field of study. Offering insights into human nature, desire, ethics, and more. Despite centuries of exploration, the nature of love remains as elusive and mysterious as ever. Reminding us of the profound depths of our humanity.
The Law of Attraction
Almost all of us that nurture a passion for success will face days when it seems as though the whole world is falling in around us. No matter how we try, Success always seems to remain just outside of our grasp. Difficulties appear impossible to overcome. If we ascribe to the Law of Attraction, it becomes clear that any negativity will only emphasize our despair. And avert our attention from our Passion for Success. Therefore it is clearly necessary that you start to nurture a positive mindset to help overcome problems on days where life seems firmly stacked against you.
The Law of attraction is a way of thinking which brings forth the idea that like-minded thoughts, will collate and bring forth similar like-minded thoughts.
It is considered a New Thought Philosophy
Focuses the idea that positive thoughts will bring positive experiences to their life and negative thoughts will bring the same. The law of Attraction is a perfect example to put beside the idea of passion. Because the light which is passion will shine bright and it will attract others.
To expand upon this idea we can explore the idea that the basic principles of the law of Attraction states that we become whatever we create through our own thought. That being, we are both limited and freed by the constraints of our thoughts. If we believe there to be trouble, there will be, if we allow ourselves to remain positive then positive things will happen.
By allowing negative thoughts to cultivate in our minds, we will by default attract more of the same and bring that negativity to us in the future. Imagine the moment you open your credit card statement each month. Is it not natural to look towards the balance and worry about how to pay it off? This is a negative thought that is attracting more debt towards us.
It is suggested that by viewing the credit card statement as an opportunity. We are then inviting more opportunity toward us through this positive outlook.
How Does The Law of Attraction Work?
Essentially what we want to do, is subvert the negative thinking into something that is positive. Change and challenge the way we think and approach life. This is something that a lot of psychologists will do in behavioral therapy. If we can clear our minds of negativity, we can then claim self-awareness in new and profound ways. This self-awareness will be an important step in unlocking ones true potential and gaining access to their passions, dreams and unlocking their abilities.
Now this all seems rather easy but it’s far easier said than done.
If you’ve ever sat in a therapists chair and listened to their plan for you over the next 12 months, you stare back rather incredulously unable to comprehend that something that sounds so simple can truly take that long. But it will, and you quickly realize it.
This is that philosophy when you’re first trying to master positive thinking in order to attract positive outcomes. It soon becomes clear that the task is in fact immense. Indeed CBT (Cognitive Behavioral Therapy) is something that needs to be practiced on a daily basis for it to be achieved. You’re essentially undoing years or even decades of practiced ways of thinking and it’s going to take a strong mind to undo that.
Here’s where passion can help
Development of a passion can redirect focus and ensure that you’re on the right path to success. In most cases we are surrounded by advice which resounds with caution and advocates for risk aversion, so how can we then look at an amassing debt and see only opportunity? Passion will be an emotion which consumes us – we will not be in a position to see the debt because that debt is merely a stepping stone to something more exciting, more thrilling and worthy and it is something which will change us.
In most instances it is totally outside of rational logic to consider accumulating further debt rather than to reduce the existing burden, or even to subvert this thinking into seeing an opportunity – being passionate about oneself.
Whilst this example is hypothetical, it does demonstrate the challenges that we face when attempting to maintain a positive mindset.
Challenges to a Positive Mindset
You might think that it is the world which is against you, but in reality it is not the world which you are fighting, but yourself. Your own thoughts, your own patterns, your own behaviours. You have already trained your mind to see the negative, to worry, to fret, to bog itself down by matters which it should deem as inconsequential. It will be a long arduous process which will undo that. It’s almost a battle between the idealistic mind and the mind of practicality.
We must pay that debt to live a comfortable life and own a house and do all the things that we’d like to do such as visit the world, write a book and live in LA. That’s barely positive thinking and it’s certainly not passionate thinking. It’s subscribing to ideas of success and accomplishment that are based on capitalist ideologies.
Passionate thinking will see you consumed by one thing, one goa
Your complete and utter determination to achieve that goal and get there. That’s the thinking that we need to change and that is the type of change that is most likely going to take weeks, months or even years to practice. It also becomes quite clear that we also need to develop a strategy to eradicate negative influences from our environment.When this occurred to me. I decided I had to do something. I had to make a choice.
For my part, I turned off the news.
After listening for many years to detailed discussions about world events, I was suddenly awoken to the harsh reality of the media. News had changed since I was little, where once it was a straightforward affair with facts and figures, the news now was an emotionally charged piece wrought with biased opinions and beliefs. It had become a constant barrage of bad news and it wasn’t until a friend commented that Irealized that this was creating a sense of negativity in my thoughts. Although the comment was offered as an aside, the truth hit home and I suddenly became acutely aware of the negative impact of my actions.
Of course, my first concern was that I might not be sufficiently or socially aware to cope without this daily trove of topical information. But very soon I discovered that life was not actually affected by this theoretical void and that it did in fact continue on. I now discovered that I could select my listening more carefully. And I chose to enhance my knowledge and understanding through personal development programs.
Of course, I would never suggest that starvation or global warming are not important. But maybe I would be more able to address these issues from a position of positivity and strength rather than being corrupted by the constant barrage of media negativity.
A second step along the road to positivity
Was during my casual encounters with strangers during my daily commute to work. I had noticed that I had spent so long hiding, trying not to be noticed. I would just put my iPod on and I closed myself off from outside contact and I would face a rather lonely journey. If information about train times or whatever was required, this was not so easy to attain when i had closed myself off to the world. But if I embarked upon my journey with a smile and a welcome to fellow travelers, suddenly people were almost queuing up to be helpful. This is a snapshot of the concept that positive action brings positive results.
Inner Thoughts
Once the format had been proven and established, I now had to try to control my inner thoughts.
This is much more difficult than controlling external influences however hard that is to understand. Don’t we all feel that the one person we truly know is our self? Sometimes we may feel so lost that we understand other people better. Well, perhaps we only truly know our superficial self and don’t often tap into our innermost beliefs to understand our motivations and controlling beliefs. Many people have a complete lack of self-awareness when it comes to our lives, and the new ways of thinking that this article advocates for is what is going to help unlock your ambition.
Perhaps the most effective method
Impose this positivity upon my subconscious mind was to listen repeatedly to audio presentations about the law of attraction. A good starting point is with The Secret by Rhonda Byrne and, without going into too much depth here, might urge you to listen to this presentation a few times over the coming weeks. As the concept starts to make sense to you, reinforce this with a positive communication and test the results during your commute to work, at the office. Or even in the supermarket, after all, checkout staff have feelings too!
As you start to explore this approach, keep your outlook bright.
Future is only a perspective of your thoughts until it becomes a reality. Those thoughts will seek to nurture and protect by projecting fear or concerns. So, over these next few weeks, let’s try to overlay these projections with success. Don’t worry if this takes a long time to achieve. And don’t worry if the results fail to manifest immediately. If you are like me, it is a long journey but do keep in mind that no matter what is going on around you. There are always opportunities.
You will need to remain aware of your thoughts and control them wherever possible. It will undoubtedly take much effort to manage and create this new way of thinking. But the rewards should soon lead to a better way of living and unlocking your full potential.
Rick has been involved in the adult lifestyle and sex toy industry for more then 25 years. Rick is an active sex blogger who provides a wealth of information and experience. He is an advocate of equality for gender and sexuality.
