Agape is unconditional love, a deep wish for the ultimate happiness and well-being of the subject of our love - whether it be another human being, an animal, or nature itself.
It is different from Eros – the passion we have for a romantic partner, or Philia – the deep affection between friends.
Agape has no conditions, even when it is not reciprocated, or even when we are hurt by the other and must go away from them.
Agape is, even when someone leaves us, or they are far away. If they have died, Agape keeps them tethered to our hearts.
What does this kind of love look like in our lives? And what might it have to do with the practice of medicine and recovery from addiction?
Over my many years of practice, I have witnessed a million acts of kindness.
There is Agape in the very movement of a hand offering a tissue to dry a tear, or a soft pat on the back to say “nice to see you again.”
Agape is in the way a nurse cleans a wound, as much as it is in the patient's wincing to tolerate the sting.
There can be Agape in the gentle ballottement of an arthritic knee, or the tender pause at the end of a painful story.
It is a web of invisible threads we weave, and may choose to weave, every day for ourselves and for each other.
And perhaps, it is the same thread that offers hope in the silent dark pit of addiction where all is consumed, and all is despair.
A thread, barely there, that eventually leads the slow, convoluted way out.
May you choose Agape, and may your life be filled with Agape.
Dr. Sze
Agape Love is the highest form of love. It’s a Greek work for Unconditional and sacrificial love. We are meant to be Rivers of Agape love and not just Puddles!! We give to others in our line of work. Agape love is patient, kind, self-control, joy, goodness, gentleness, modesty etc. etc.
1 Corinthian's: 13: 13 says Now there is Faith, hope and love but the greatest of this is Love.😍