Posted by johnboy on May 12, 1999 at 21:38:32:
In Reply to: Love? posted by Anne Ward on May 12, 1999 at 16:14:41:
>>>also can something be in love and done for selfish reasons?
my amiga, anne ---it's late at night and i'm in the middle of a download and pleased to find you *here*
this won't be my best effort, but a quick off-the-cuff response and, second thought, maybe i'll better reach you
it has been said that for Roman Catholics, it would be outright heresy to deny our attraction to God as is motivated by *what's in it for us*
that's what eros is = what's in it for me? (you wanted down and dirty...so i may oversimplify)
for example, we pray: i detest all my sins because of thy just punishment ... well that deals only with us on the *receiving end* as we fear the loss of God's companionship
all the mystics affirm our desire and longing and panting for God (Ps 42) and also affirm our body needs and soul needs and wants and desires as reverberations of these very same spiritual desires
all sound teaching as regards healthy asceticism talk of inordinate attachments and detachment but certainly not the abandonment of the objects of our attachments = creatures, but only the *inordinacy* or the placing of them, out of order, in front of our God
i like CS Lewis and find nourishment in his considerations of agape' (which you need NO intro to) and of eros (which i just addressed) and of storge' (our love for kin, our connaturality with truth, beauty, justice and love, goodness and mercy) and of philia (friendship, which the Gospel is replete with ... Jesus calls you friend)
well that's my best down and dirty midnight response ... when you are in the Spirit, as you are ... body and soul and spirit ... and certain teachings rub you wrong ... trust your own instincts cause Anne was not headed into any mistakes of the heart as regards defining love even if we both engage in some folly here as regards making some mistakes of the head as regards love (which is a theological virtue and the first gift of the Holy Spirit ... but i thought i'd best leave that alone ... you weren't looking for a catechetical answer but rather an evangelical one) ... but to be a real smart alek: Love is a Mystery and is grounded in relationship which has sooooo many depth dimensions that i am now, upon reflection going to ponder in reverent silence