Flirt Glossary – Philia
Philia comes from Greek and describes a form of love that emphasizes friendship as a form of relationship. Eroticism is not always the focus here, but is only seen as part of this way of life if friendly values and mutual understanding allow this.
If this form is lived out very intimately and passionately, physical love is also seen as a service to friendship or as an enrichment of the relationship. The counterpart to Philia is Eros, which means erotic love.
Philia is a wonderful form of love that is often underestimated in our society. It can be just as fulfilling and profound as any other type of relationship.
Because Philia is not just about physical attraction or sexual desire, but above all about trust, respect and connection on an emotional level.
In friendship relationships, the focus is on shared experiences - be it through hobbies or interests - but mutual support in difficult life situations also plays an important role. In this type of relationship there are no false expectations or disappointments due to unfulfilled desires for closeness or intimacy.
But if such a friendly bond develops into something more, then it can lead to an even deeper emotional experience. However, the physical component always takes second place to the emotional aspect - after all, this new dimension of togetherness is still based on the same basic values as the originally purely platonic friendship.
As is so often the case, with Philia it all depends: open communication about needs and boundaries as well as respectful interaction with each other are essential for a happy partnership - whether as just friends with occasional physical effort (so to speak "friends with benefits") or even as a partner romantic love relationship without sexual interpersonal actions.
