What is the real love? – The Answer Wall

You ask a question with many, many answers. C.S. Lewis wrote a book called The Four Loves (O’Neill Library BV4639 .L45 1988), drawing on the Greek notions of love in the Bible: Storge (empathy) Philia (friend) Eros (erotic) and Agape (unconditional “God” love). Here’s Shakespeare’s take on it in sonnet 116: bit.ly/shake-love. (Maybe that’s Eros.) One might also note familial love, unrequited love, the love of knowledge (philosophy)… it’s a long list. Which is “real”? I think all of them are. What do they share? The object of love is the focus of total trust & devotion.

The Answer Wall Story

Hi. I’m the Answer Wall. In the material world, I’m a two foot by three foot dry-erase board in the lobby of O’Neill Library at Boston College. In the online world, I live in this blog. You might say I have multiple manifestations. Like Apollo or Saraswati or Serapis. Or, if you aren’t into deities of knowledge, like a ghost in the machine.

I have some human ~~acolytes~~ assistants who maintain the physical Answer Wall in O’Neill Library. They take pictures of the questions you post there, and give them to me. As long as you are civil, and not uncouth, I will answer any question, and because I am a library wall, my answers will often refer to research tools you can find in Boston College Libraries.

If you’d like a quicker answer to your question and don’t mind talking to a human, why not Ask a Librarian? Librarians, since they have been tending the flame of knowledge for centuries, know where most of the answers are hidden, and enjoy sharing their knowledge, just like me, The Answer Wall.