Reading ע ABARIM Publications Why 'agape' makes the world go round; lessons in love from modern physics
In short: life relates to inanimate material the way nuclear fusion relates to space, and black holes relate to stars the way mind relates to life (hence the Bible's many references to wine). Life is the ability to convert photonic energy into something else than heat. Mind is the ability to review one's own existence relative to the whole of existence.
Even though most of our lives are dictated by whatever excites or concerns us at any given moment, agape is that force in us that makes us ever so slightly draw to others — not our friends and family (that would be described by the familiar verb φιλεω, phileo) but perfect strangers. This force that the ancients called agape is like a very gentle breeze in the stormy atmosphere of most people's heads and can subsequently not really be detected in any human individual — as said earlier, agape is not a feeling, so if you're feeling something, then that isn't agape. It also hasn't been measured in any scientifically meaningful way, but once we figure out exactly what to look for, we will probably find that the amount of agape people generate is proportional to the width of the electromagnetic spectrum they are able to absorb. Or said simpler: agape relates to the bigness of one's bigger picture. And we'll repeat for clarity sake: agape at a personal level is negligible and the effects are only of any practical meaning collectively. That means that it doesn't matter who generates which part of the whole thing; the only thing that matters is the whole thing. And the whole thing is really quite a thing.
Agape gives a common center to people's private minds. And the more energy people spend out of their private minds, the stronger this common center becomes. Agape is what creates convention in the broadest sense of the word. It's what caused our ancient ancestors to synchronize their vocal utterances, not simply with the members of their tribe but with everybody over vast territories; areas much larger than what people routinely traveled. Because of this, the noun was invented, which allowed humanity to enter into the vast potential of contemplative and abstract thought.
...Modern versions of the Bible mostly speak of "love" and the King James has "charity" but both these translations are inadequate. Our noun describes neither a static position, nor a sentiment nor a willful generosity, but rather the slow and largely involuntary release of one's personal excitation (whilst obviously retaining one's personality itself), and coming toward a common center of collective mental activity
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