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3. Ludus: Playful love

Ludus is known as the “playful love.” However, a better way to describe it is the feeling of infatuation in the early days of romance. If you’ve been in love
before, you know what I’m talking about. It’s the butterflies in your stomach, the giddiness you feel when you see your love walk through the door, and the
feeling of never wanting to be without them.

Ludus is playful or uncommitted love. It can involve activities such as teasing and dancing, or more overt flirting, seducing, and conjugating. The focus is on
fun, and sometimes also on conquest, with no strings attached. It’s the child-like and fun kind of love.

If you think about it; this generation loves Ludus more than anything else.

Ludus relationships are casual, undemanding, and uncomplicated but, for all that, can be very long-lasting. Ludus works best when both parties are mature
and self-sufficient. The fluttering heart and feelings of euphoria; the slightly dangerous sensation.

Problems arise when one party mistakes Ludus for Eros, whereas Ludus is in fact much more compatible with Philia.

Studies show that when people are experiencing this type of love, their brain is acting much like it does if it was on cocaine. In other words, your brain is lit
up and active just like someone who is literally high on a drug. It makes you feel alive and excited about life.

Example of Ludus love: Modern love at its finest, Ludus love is best described by thinking of two people who just want to have fun together, with little
need for security or roots.

4. Eros: Romantic love

Eros is named after the Greek god of love and fertility. Therefore, it is usually associated with romantic, passionate, and physical love. It is an expression of
sexual passion and desire.

The Greeks were actually quite fearful of this love, strangely enough. They thought that because human beings have an instinctual impulse to procreate, that
this love was so powerful and it would result in a loss of control. Although the Greeks thought this kind of love was dangerous, it is still the kind of love that
is associated with passionate, sexual love. Even in modern days, some people believe that this kind of love “burns hot and bright, but it burns out fast.”

Eros is sexual or passionate love and is the type most akin to our modern construct of romantic love. In Greek myth, it is a form of madness brought about by Page347
one of Cupid’s arrows. The arrow breaches us and we ‘fall’ in love, as did Paris with Helen, leading to the Trojan War and the downfall of Troy and much of
the assembled Greek army.