I had so many things I wanted to include in my "About Me" section that my wonderful designer James must've despaired. He's the one that coined the headings "Writer - Fighter - Lover" which so caught my fancy that I had to go with them, despite slight reservations that the word "lover" has been tarnished by purveyors of sex drugs and magazines. For purposes of this section, the word "Lover" means "She Who Loves".

I've chosen Botticelli's "La Primavera" as primary illustration for this section as it is an allegory for the several concepts of love discussed by the classical philosophers Plato and Aristotle. Appropriately, it also occupies the center of my living room wall, the only Renaissance painting amongst a wall full of Pre-Raphaelite.

As I understand them, love can fall into the following definitions:

· Storge

· Eros

· Philia

· Agape

Storge has been described as either familial love or the love of the familiar. It can be extended to animals and inanimate objects as well as people. Thus this would include my family, my cats, and my home.

Eros is the love that is supposed to be between men and women, especially in marriage. The word Erotic is derived from this love. Eros is not merely sexual, however. It is the love that seeks unity with the beloved, it wants to merge souls. This would include my husband.

Philia is the love of friends. This love is a love that exists because people share a common topic of discussion outside of either of them and it can encompass more than two people. Curiously, this could also be a definition of a "tribe". Thus this type of love applies to my three tribes: my Clarion alumni. the Morris and the Taoist Tai Chi Society.

Finally, there is Agape - the purest form of love. It can be the love of God but it is greater than that. It is the love that makes you want to give, because it is utterly complete and needs nothing back. There is an element of Agape in my feelings for all the above. Insofar as the Divine is concerned, that is addressed under Passions.