“The Four Loves” - 1 - Introduction

🎁 Gift-Love vs. 🍞 Need-Love

Need-Love is strange

1. ascribing the word “love”
2. “mere selfishness” — are babies selfish for Need-loving their mother? Friends for company? Perhaps not so simple: lack of appetite is a symptom, since men need food.
3. Man with God, seems to almost entirely be Need-Love — even our highest Gift-Love, will always be haunted by Need-Love

If this Need-Love is the greatest, then strangely: the man who is least like God, in greatest Need, — will experience the most intense of this greatest (Need-)Love.

“Nearness to God” — “🪞-likeness” vs. “🏃-approach”

“nearness to God” has two expressions: 🪞 “nearness in likeness” vs. 🏃 “nearness in approach”.

All natural elements (space, time, animals, nature, etc.) has 🪞 likeness of the Creator. But mankind is 🪞 “nearer in likeness” to God. Angels some have likeness which Man (currently) lacks.

All men and angels, even those fallen, are more like God than animals are.

But nearness of 🏃 approach: state where a man is most surely/swiftly approaching final communion with God.

Given a mountain-walk to a village. At noon the village is just below us, at the base of the cliff. We are 🪞 “closer” than ever. But later, on the long descent detour, we may get statistically 🪞 further than at the cliff. But in terms of progress, we get 🏃 nearer to our “baths and tea”.

Possession of divine attributes/gifts, constitute 🪞 likeness in proximity. But so long as we just sit idle at the cliff-top, we will never actually get 🏃 nearer to our “baths and tea”.

🪞 Likeness-nearness doesn’t really change. But 🏃 Nearness-likeness is increasing nearness.

🪞 Likeness-nearness is:

• given
  • without consent
  • with or without thanks
• can be used or abused

But where 🪞 Likeness-nearness is unwilled imitation, 🏃 Nearness-likeness is willed imitation.

“Love” is powerful — and can become bad

John’s “God is love” is well-balanced M. Denis de Rougemont’s “love (ceases/begins) to be a demon only when he (ceases/begins) to be a god”. “God is love” does not prove the converse “love is God”.

Naming “Love” implicitly demands divine authority, total commitment, ignores cost, overrides all other claims.

A faithful and genuinely self-sacrificing passion will speak to us with what seems the voice of God. Merely animal or frivolous lust will not.

Our loves do not make their claims until the claim becomes plausible… a real resemblance to God, to Love Himself.

🎁 Gift-loves are most “God-like”, 🪞 nearness by likeness, and can be beautiful or “demonic”. Meanwhile, 🍞 Need-loves may be greedy, are so unlike that they do not attempt to claim divinity.

The human loves can be glorious images of the Divine Love. No less than that: but also no more.