Love and passion are two different, yet extremely powerful emotions. Love can be defined as a strong emotion that we feel for someone who is close to us. Passion has a dual meaning. It can be defined as a strong emotion of excitement and enthusiasm towards a person or field, or as a strong romantic or sexual feeling towards someone.
True love is much more than passion and romance. True love is classified by kindness, respect, honesty, shared morals and values, communication, and problem-solving skills. All these factors play a big role in true love but they are not necessary for passion and romance.
When we talk about the love between a couple, passion is a part of that love. In a mother and child relationship, however, passion has no role in that love. Therefore, the principal difference between love and passion is that passion is the sexual and romantic love, whereas love is having a deep affection for someone.
Passion is a temporary phase of complete euphoria and ecstasy. Love, however, is referred to as a state of living. True love lasts forever. It has no time frame. No matter how much you yell or argue with one another, you truly know that this person loves you and that you love that person. Passion is associated with desire when it is compared with love. However, the truth is an emotion that fades over time.
Love is a strong emotion that we feel for those who are close to our hearts. There are four types of love according to ancient Greeks. Storge is a type of love that we sense for our relations like family. Phileo is a platonic love that we feel for close friends. Eros is a love between couples that is characterized as longing and desire. Agape is an ideal and pure love that can be seen in different relationships, such as the love between husband and wife, siblings and friends, parents and children. Emotion does not refer to romantic or passionate love, as these above categories suggest. Some of the behavioural, emotional and cognitive characteristics of passionate love include:
- The idealization of the other person and relationship
- A strong desire to know and be known
- Intrusive thoughts about the partner
- Strong emotions about the other person
- A need to maintain physical closeness
Love differs according to the type of relationship that we have for that person. Passion can be referred to as the sexual love, whereas love is an intense feeling of deep affection. The main difference between love and passion is that love is long-lived while passion is a short-lived. In love, deeper understanding is required to keep the love going on.