Love
Communication and language
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Why it takes humour to sustain a long-term relationship
Maintaining a long and happy relationship requires a specific skillset. Learning to laugh at yourself and together is key
by Enrico Gnaulati
Ethics
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Morality aside, there’s another good reason to love your enemies
Wishing your antagonists well can be seen as a moral obligation or a misguided ideal. But it might serve your interests
by Alex Moran
Emotions
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Why is there such a thing as ‘true love’ but not ‘true grump’?
What makes an emotion feel true? And how is that connected to your true self? New insights on old philosophical puzzles
by Shayla Love
Love
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What I’ve learned about relationships as an agony uncle
I am an agony uncle. This is what I’ve learned about men, women and how relationships work in my 10 years of giving advice
by James McConnachie
Stories and literature
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Ovid’s tales of mutual love show he was more than a poet of rape
Ovid’s epic poem explores two sides of the Roman idea of love: one led by violence and domination, the other by mutual desire
by Stephanie McCarter
Love
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Why it can be sublime to love someone who doesn’t love you back
Unrequited love might be bitter and painful, but it is also the ultimate expression of your humanity. Don’t fight it
by Alexandra Gustafson
Psychosis and schizophrenia
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Love can fuel the deep empathy needed to understand psychosis
Dedicated carers search for shared mooring points of understanding to help them connect with their loved ones with psychosis
by Zoë Boden-Stuart
Love
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Digital entanglement is changing the nature of breakups
We interviewed people about their breakups to find out how matters were complicated by being technologically intertwined
by Elise van den Hoven
Poetry
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Sufi love poetry is in vogue, but few grasp its radical meaning
The Sufi path to love in the poetry of Rumi and ‘Iraqi styles the body as a bridge to the divine in deeply erotic ways
by Matthew Thomas Miller
Rituals and celebrations
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Rituals create community by translating our love into action
For the Confucian Xunzi, love and gratitude are not just feelings in response to events but possibilities for social action
by Curie Virág
Love
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Your partner’s infidelity needn’t be a relationship catastrophe
Infidelity needn’t end a relationship: many people have affairs for reasons that have nothing to do with their partner
by Dylan Selterman
Poetry
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Love’s contradictions: Catullus on the agony of infatuation
Behold a man tortured on the rack, pulled apart by love and hate: how to understand Catullus’s best-known poem
by Armand D’Angour