Sta Hungry Stay Foolish

Stay Hungry. Stay Foolish.

A blog by Leon Oudejans

Love, the selfless belief (1)

Early 2015, I completed my concept of the 7 Belief systems by adding Love as a 7th belief system. Three of these 7 beliefs belong to its Knowledge dimension (ie, Philosophy, Science and the Truth) and 3 belong to its Power dimension (ie, Money, Politics, Religion).

The 7th belief system – Love – is however linked to both dimensions through the trinity of Faith (ie, Religion), Hope (ie, Philosophy) and Love. This trinity is known from 1 Corinthians 13 which states the following famous words: “And now these three remain: faith, hope and love.  But the greatest of these is love.” 

Verse 2 and 3 of 1 Corinthians 13 links Love to the Knowledge and Power dimensions: (v2) If I have the gift of prophecy and can fathom all mysteries and all knowledge, and if I have a faith that can move mountains, but do not have love, I am nothing. (v3) If I give all I possess to the poor and give over my body to hardship that I may boast, but do not have love, I gain nothing.

Verses 4-7 explain why Love is the greatest of all: (v4) Love is patient, love is kind. It does not envy, it does not boast, it is not proud. (v5) It does not dishonor others, it is not self-seeking, it is not easily angered, it keeps no record of wrongs. (v6) Love does not delight in evil but rejoices with the truth. (v7) It always protects, always trusts, always hopes, always perseveres.

In other words, Love is selfless (NL: onbaatzuchtig). The “love” for all other 6 belief systems is not selfless but selfish. This “love” may be either be qualified as ambition (Politics, Religion, Science), domination (Philosophy), envyjealousy (the Truth), or greed (Money). 

Love is the only eternal belief system which has been with humanity since its origin. Knowledge can vanish over time. A quote from J.R.R. Tolkien‘s book The Lord of the Rings: “And some things that should not have been forgotten were lost. History became legend. Legend became myth. And for two and a half thousand years, the ring passed out of all knowledge.” Power often matches with human life and ends with human death.

Love is the least understood belief system. In order to describe it, we use adjectives: parental love, brotherly & sisterly love, passionate (or sexual) love, pragmatic love, romantic love, self-love (narcissism), and divine / spiritual love (eg, Allah, God, Yahweh). Let’s not forget loving Nature, a friend (friendship), or a country (patriotism).

The ancient Greeks had at least 4 different words for love: agápe, éros, philía, and storgē (Wiki). Canadian psychologist John Alan Lee defines 6 styles of love in his 1973 book Colours of Love (Wiki). A 2016 Psychology Today article defines 7 types of love. Although we have known Love for thousands if not millions of years, we still ask ourselves: What is Love?

What is Love? (1993) by Haddaway – artist, lyrics, video, Wiki-1, Wiki-2

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