Love: a surprising Eastern Orthodox Christian perspective

Jonathan Pageau, Orthodox Christian icon carver and creator of the YouTube channel The Symbolic World,

speaks a lot about love (not romantic love, but simply “love” as a force) – what it means, how it works, and how it compels us to act in the world. Read on to know more…

Pageau defines love as what animates our world in a phenomenological way. The experience of love compels us to do things. Love is what we are drawn to, what we give our attention to, and what we’re serving (we’re all working in service to something, the question is what).

There are higher and lower loves: There are things that give us more satisfaction, meaning and connection (higher loves). An example of a higher love would be a relationship with a person. A lower – or less satisfying – love, might be alcohol.

Evil is misguided love: When you try to fill the hole left by a lack of meaning and connection with a “lower love” it can turn into addiction or dysfunction, because you can never truly be satisfied with something that does not give you the meaning and purpose you’re looking for.

As we grow, we “climb the ladder of loves” – we incrementally begin to change by loving something that gives us more meaning and purpose than the last thing. This differs from person to person; everyone is at a different place in their development.

You cannot “get rid of evil” by fighting it, but rather by loving something “higher.” For example, someone can begin to beat a porn addiction (a misguided love that they may be using to fill a larger pain of disconnection in their lives) by focussing on loving a real person.

The highest/final love is God. “God” is understandably difficult to swallow for many of us, but to simplify it – God is everything in the universe and more than the universe at the same time (the same way a chair consists of all its parts but is more than the sum of its parts).

When you truly “love God” more than other things, you feel profound connection to everything and deep meaning. You “fill yourself with love” – unconsciously setting a deep intention to be connected to everything and act in a way that benefits the whole cosmos, including yourself.

Love is unity and multiplicity coexisting: Even though we are united "under God," we are also unique people. When you love something properly, you don’t swallow it or push it away from you. You are deeply bonded but still separate things (like the legs of a chair and the chair).

Bottom line: Phenomenologically, we are moved by our love of different things – for better or for worse. Love can remind us that we are separate but also that we’re bound inextricably. As we climb the ladder of loves, we experience meaning, growth, and connection.