Passionate love versus compassionate love Essay

Passionate love versus compassionate love - Essay Example Love can simply refer to a feeling of pleasure that one gets by doing something, hence the phrase ‘I love doing this’. One the other hand, even forms of romantic love is not all of the same kind. This might bring in the differences between passionate love and compassionate love. The key differences between the two kinds of romantic love contrast at different levels with both types having their own characteristics that seem better over the other. Passionate love happens quickly with strong attraction and feelings of emotion, but once the differences settle in, it is overcome by them and does not last long enough. Compassionate love on the other hand is based on mutual understanding, common dreams and empathy (Gilbert, Pg. 20-27). This makes compassionate love long lasting and possibly for the life time (Tzeng , P. 112). Compassionate love, hence, has more stability and the similarity and common interests of the two individuals help them bond over the facts (Lavelly; Quile s, pg. 354). Passionate love might be working on the bases of attraction between the opposites, but that is more of a compliment for the case of compassionate love with respect to qualities (Lavelly). The fact can be verified from the example that people, in general, prefer to marry into their own social groups and races even without the marriage being arranged by the parents or a third party (Lavelly). Research on the topic indicates that romantic acts and feelings are more permanent if the male and female have a higher pattern of similarity (Quiles, p. 354). This might be the reason that inspite of introduction of the internet and breaking of the rules previously stated about most individuals marrying in their own group (Lavelly), people still tend to marry in their own cultures (or atleast similar cultures) where they can find partners with more similarity (Quiles, p.354). This might be scene from a variety of perspectives and the contrast between the two types of love defines th e controversy that surrounds the matter, the love for similar background, culture, ambitions, shared dreams and the simple attraction or craving for another person. A survey supports the compassionate love in this regard to be of higher importance by comparing it to sports. Athletes surveyed responded that compassionate love and understanding helped them improve their performance in sports (Hindustan Times). Compassionate love differs from the passionate love in significant ways; attitudes, motivations, desires, expectations and many other feelings that might be there in both differ in their approach. Compassionate love defines life with respect to care, a beneficial treatment and respect for the partner with an appropriate perception of the suffering of the other. Passionate love can be unstable and a ride through the rough. A couple might be sitting in front of each other having feelings ranging from attraction to awkwardness (May). The unconditional expectation of a romantic love is the actual thing put to test in case of a passionate love (May). For the love to be genuine the passion in the love with feeling and understanding of the other might be present but anything less might be a blow to the relationship in case of a passionate love (May). Where compassionate love presents free choice, cognitive understanding and empathetic responses that put aside selfish needs, passionate love might in fact be a way to fulfill one’s own emotional needs without which it might be seen as less valuable (May). A partner with passionate love might feel it is an emotional burden from the other when the going gets tough. The first difficulty in the relationship might challenge the