Dimensions of Love

Three Dimensions of Love

Being able to love is a universal attribute and many miss the opportunity to share in loving moments by fear or other reasons. Given the central role of love in human relationships, many attempt to understand love, explain its nature, and describe its characteristics. Sternberg levels his dimensions of love with three major categories: intimacy, commitment and passion. Intimacy is a feeling of closeness that is mutually developed by individuals who share their innermost thoughts and feelings, commitment is when a person makes a decision to love and maintain a relationship that develops and passion is the emotional arousal that leads to romance, sexual interaction and physical attraction between two individuals. Sternberg's theory of love, or triangle of love in a relationship can exhibit all or none of the dimensions of love. In a relationships these dimensions of love exist solely and completely.

Marriage is an area of love that takes the most interesting factors in the three dimensions of love. It's a triangle that keeps going unless one of those levels aren't achieved. It is important to remember that love does not only involve the dimensions of passion, intimacy, and commitment for marriage but for a friendship as well. The way that these dimensions manifest and the attachments that form because of them can affect an individual's earliest relationships along with relationships that develop later. When mutual partners interrelate intimacy, commitment and passion, it forms lasting friendships, partnerships and relationships that end in life long relationships such as marriage. Friendships that have a close bond, make decisions to have each others back and be their to support each other emotionally is a great dimension of love. In marriage is where the intimacy, commitment and passion level of dimension is most important. When a man and woman come close, bond, develops a physical and sexual attraction and interact with kindness toward each other, it develops one of the greatest loving relationships ever. Basically having the three combined dimensions of love developed in theory by Sternberg gives us a path to follow and understand the development of stages in feelings and responses of love.