Søren Kierkegaard discusses different types of love in his work Works of Love. He believes that all love stems from the love of God, and that one must first love themselves through self-love in order to love others. Kierkegaard says the primary loves are love of God, love of neighbors as duty, love of friends, and erotic love. For each type of love, he discusses how it should be carried out, such as through obedience, building others up, and maintaining individuality within relationships. The overarching message is that no matter what happens in life, love will always endure because it is rooted in God, who is the source of all love.

1. By. Ronilo n. Bual

2.  Søren Kierkegaard authored Works of Love
he starts by explaining the necessity of believing
in love.
To give way to fear of deceit and believe that
love exists. Kierkegaard explains that believing
something that is untrue is to be deceived such
is to disbelieve something that is true. "To cheat
oneself out of love is the most terrible
deception."

3.  The cornerstone of love is self-
love, but the foundation of love is
the Love of God. Without self-
love no other love can exist;
yet without God, no love can exist.
 Kierkegaard wrote "Therefore it is
not said: "Thou shalt love God as
thyself," but rather, "Thou shalt
love the Lord thy God with all thy
heart, with all thy soul, and all thy
mind.“

4.  “A man should love God in unconditional
Obedience and love him in adoration.“
To show love to God is to obey his word. He
says "All you have to do is to obey in
love."

5.  While observing obedience you must love thy
neighbor as thyself. Kierkegaard asks ‘Who, then,
is one's neighbor?'
 The word neighbor is derived from the Old German
wordneahgebur meaning near-dweller.
 How do we interpret this phrase; near-dweller?
Near in proximity? Near in education? Near in
ideals? Or near in heart?
 To Søren Kierkegaard we must decipher this as
Christ does with the Parable of the merciful
Samaritan.

6.  Explaining the story of the fallen man, who was robbed,
being passed by a priest and a Levite (a member of the
Hebrew tribe of Levi, often known to be aide to the
priests); was finally recovered by a Samaritan. Christ
then asks "Which now of these three, thinkest thou, was
neighbour unto him that fell among the thieves?" (Luke
10:36) Answering "He that shewed mercy on him."
Jesus then directs us saying "Go, and do thou likewise."
 Remembering Kierkegaard's idea; 'All you have to do is
to obey in love.'

7.  "Choosing a lover, finding a friend, yes, that is a long, hard
job, but one's neighbor is easy to recognize, easy to find -- if
one himself will only recognize his duty.“
 To Søren Kierkegaard your neighbors are those whom you
have a duty to; those who are in need of mercy.
 Finding those people who are in need of what you have is
your task and giving them what you can is your duty.
 Not to say that loving your neighbor is to neglect your friends
and loves ones which you are not currently duty-bound.
 But to put into action the idea to ‘Love God above all else and
then love your neighbor and in your neighbor every man.’

8.  In discussing types of love, Kierkegaard discusses Love
of God, love of neighbors, love of friends, and what he
refers to as erotic love.
 His phrase 'erotic love' would be in line with what we call
romantic love.
 Søren writes "Erotic love is still not eternal; it is the
beautiful giddiness of infinity; its highest expression is
the rashness of riddles.“
Types of love

9.  He believes that erotic love should be
faithful, while loving thy neighbor, the
love is blind attitude should still be in
place when it comes to your erotic love.
 You can, and should, fulfill your duty to
love every man while wearing blinders
blocking all those that are not your erotic
love from view; leaving you faithful and
committed to them.
 He makes a strong distinction between
You and I and Yours and Mine.

10.  Explaining that you cannot have Yours and Mine in erotic love
and you must have You and I. You and I are individuals, with
individual needs and wants. Yours and Mine are self-serving
and have no place in an erotic love.
 Kierkegaard says " When mine has become yours and yours
mine, there are indeed a mine and a yours everywhere...
Through the exchange the contentious mine and yours
have become a communal mine and yours... Since mine
and yours exchanged and become Ours, in which
category friendship and erotic love have their strength,
they are strong at least in this."

11.  He finds there to be strength in the OURS mentality. It is
not self-serving, it creates a more open space for trust to
fill without jeopardizing each person’s individuality.

12.  Although, Søren Kierkegaard believes erotic love and
friendship to come behind both the love of God and
the love of thy neighbor, he writes "erotic love is
undeniably life's most happy fortune and friendship the
greatest temporal good."
 He described the exchange of rings that happens in
erotic love to be a very fitting gesture for that type of
love, but finds it to be a poor symbol of love. The rings
symbolizing that which the OURS mentality has already
given us. A true symbol of love, as seen by Kierkegaard
is an act of love; a work of love.

13.  "When it is a duty in loving
to love the men that we see,
There is no limit to love. If
the duty is to be fulfilled, the
love must be timeless. It is
unchanged, no matter how
the object becomes
changed."

14.  While understanding that love is limitless we must
understand that includes loving people for who they are,
not who we see them as.
 Loving a person for who they are in each moment in
contrast to loving them for the potential we see in
them. As humans, we have a tendency to love the
people in our lives for what they plan to accomplish and
the potential we see them having.
 That is not true love, to truly love another you must not
only love them for who they could become but also for
the person they have been and who they are in this
moment.

15.  Kierkegaard paints this idea with the
relationship between Christ and Peter.
 Peter, in life's most pivotal moment,
denies his friend. Betrayed by his
friend; we would anticipate Christ to be
offended, to be hurt. This is not what
occurred. He was sorrowful for his
friend. He was concerned about the
well-being of the man who just sealed
his fate.

16.  He does not ignore Peter but instead looks at him with eyes
of concern.
 Our nature is to harbor feelings of disdain for those who have
crossed us, but "Christ's love for Peter was so boundless that
in loving Peter he accomplished loving the person one sees."
 Kierkegaard writes "He did not say, "Peter must change first
and become another man before I can love him again." No,
just the opposite, he said, "Peter is peter, and I love him; love,
if anything, will help him to become another man.""

17.  To love someone is to build them up. If we are honest in
loving every man, we are building them up. Love does
not tear one another down, it does not start rumors, it
does not treat with disrespect, it is not resentful; love
builds up. When one truly feels love they feel uplifted.
Love carries misunderstandings, it forgives unwarranted
anger.

18.  “Whatever the world takes away from you, though it be the
most cherished, whatever happens to you in life, however
you may have to suffer because of your striving, for the good,
if you please, if men turn indifferent from you or as enemies
against you, if no one is willing to admit acquaintance with
you or acknowledge what he nevertheless owes you, if even
your best friend should deny you – if nevertheless in any
of your strivings, in any of your actions, in any of your words
you truly have consciously had love along: then take comfort,
for love abides.”
 For Søren Kierkegaard, no matter where life takes us,
the trials that we face, love will abide.

19.  Understanding Kierkegaard’s ideas of
love is to know that love is rooted in
God.
 Knowing that all love comes from the
love of God and the love we have for
God. Stemming from there is self-love;
to truly love another is to love oneself.
 You must have self-appreciation and
love to share that with others.

20.  Once we have that self-love we must love our neighbors as
ourselves. We are duty-bound to those in need of what we
have to give.
 To love our neighbors, or everyman, we must not neglect our
friends and our erotic love.
 See them as they are and love them for that. Because love
builds up, we must find ways to build up those we love. There
is enough darkness in the world around us; we must stand as
a beacon of light for those around us.
 Giving those we love brightness from this dark, and allow
them to feel our warmth in the cold world surrounding us.

21.  Nevertheless, love abides. With all of the pain and hurt
in this world, we still inhabit a world created from love,
therefore love will abide.
 When nothing seems to go right in life, when it feels as
though slipping into the darkness would go unnoticed,
Kierkegaard says tis not so.
 Love will abide. Because God is a God of Love, this
world will always have love.

22.  Knowing that love exists is enough for there to continue
to be love. Often to feel love all that is needed is to show
love.
 Building a fire in another’s heart is enough to warm our
own. By carrying out our duty to love another, by works
of love, we are showing love and obedience to God in
whom will always be love, for love abides.
https://www.scribd.com/document/365801279/the-philosophy-of-
love-1010
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