Three thinkers, three loves.
It's been a while since I saw a video of a renowned professor of philosophy here in Brazil. His name is Clovis de Barros Filho and his sayings coincide with this very subject. Unfortunately I did not find any of your videos with English subtitles. At one point in his talk about the life he begins to explain about love; obviously I will not use here his words, or even say how each one must live his own life, but based on his explanation I will give my own view of the facts.
There is one feeling called love, yet many are the thinkers, ancient and contemporary that attempted to define this feeling so deep. We'll talk today three settings that will take us from greed to generosity; we must bear in mind that we do not love all people, only a few, when there is love then there is the ethics. Ethics is a tool based on love, or at least it should be, where I treat people who have no emotional ties as if I had them. To this we may give the name of generosity, where I give a little of what I have, whether physical or not, to a complete stranger. The examples are many, such as blood donation and bone marrow, money, time, attention, etc.
Surely you have turned on the generosity of love, however, how can we call love greed? If love to people and beings is generosity, love of consumer goods, the money yourself, we can call it greed. I will cite here three thinkers and idealists who have their own definitions to all this human phenomenon.
Plato in one of his letters defines love as desire, and that desire is for something that does not have, because we only want what we do not. In this love he gave a name in Greek called EROS. So I love everything that does not possess and fight to get what they crave; people, consumer goods, money, title, social status and etc. To get what is the object of his desire, I stopped to wish, as has already been achieved, then the target changes and then we want something else. It is easy to see that our society is based on EROS, I desire and fight for everything I desire and as soon as I reach I seek a new desire. So in general we work and when we can, we want other than in more money; we want a good car, when we can, we seek another better and so the cycle never stops and never ends. Perhaps in a controlled manner does not cause any problems, it is that feeling that drives us, but only he can make us sick, we will never be happy with what we have and we are always looking for the "happiness" and never find, because it will always be in front. Those who have such a strong sense can become someone greedy, it will not give up its achievements for anything, no matter who is always looking for future goals, but we know well that all this effort and commitment causes greed is install it on your heart. To get new things, after all, it needs resources and social and professional position.
Another great thinker who speaks about love is Aristotle, that tried to give another explanation to love based on their observations. For him, happiness is also based on what we also already have, to this love he gave the name of PHILIA. That's the joy for everything we have, including beyond the means and money, but also the current work, family, friends, etc. For Aristotle this was the true and genuine love; for us is a good way of thinking, taking care of everything we have, but as this is closely related to the family that does not generate certain gain, but an emotional attachment things. In some extent, it would be always happy, content and careful with our things and family being generous with only those we love; but in an uncontrolled manner, we would always conformed and accommodated with our current situation, without seeking any kind of improvement.
Finally there is a love that is explained by Jesus, that he gave the name of AGAPE, love where we diminish, we sacrifice ourselves for others. That's the kind of love that makes us be generous, often going to rescue people who have never seen in life. It's a feeling that explains and summarizes the story of Jesus. Again well controlled it makes us capable of the most altruistic acts that humanity can witness and is a foundation for our way Jedi. On the other hand, excessive generosity can make us forget to protect us from people who are for some reason, abusing our kindness.
So, greed and generosity are parts of human nature and it is noticeable that our society is much more inclined to greed than generosity, so you need to exercise our generosity whenever possible, being altruistic and good people for all our around, whether known or unknown, without us forget ourselves and our well being, happy with what we have and looking for something better. It's like they say, balance is the key.
