Editing Love (section)

=== Eros – romantic love ===
[[Eros (concept)|Eros]] (''[[Eros (concept)|erōs]]'', Greek: [[wikt:ἔρως|ἔρως]]) for Lewis was love in the sense of "being in love" or "loving" someone, as opposed to the raw [[sexuality]] of what he called Venus: the illustration Lewis used was the distinction between "wanting a woman" and wanting one particular woman – something that matched his (classical) view of man as a [[rational animal]], a composite both of reasoning angel and instinctual alley-cat.<ref>Lewis, p.&nbsp;108-109, 116</ref>

Eros turns the need-pleasure of Venus into the most appreciative of all pleasures;<ref>Hooper, p.&nbsp;373</ref> but nevertheless, Lewis warned against the modern tendency for Eros to become a god to people who fully submit themselves to it, a justification for selfishness, even a phallic religion.<ref>Lewis, p.&nbsp;127-132, 113</ref>

After exploring sexual activity and its spiritual significance in both a pagan and a Christian sense, he notes how Eros (or being in love) is in itself an indifferent, neutral force: how "Eros in all his splendour ... may urge to evil as well as good".<ref>Lewis, p.&nbsp;124</ref>
While accepting that Eros can be an extremely profound experience, he does not overlook the dark way in which it could lead even to the point of suicide pacts or murder, as well as to furious refusals to part, "mercilessly chaining together two mutual tormentors, each raw all over with the poison of hate-in-love".<ref>Lewis, pp.&nbsp;124, 132</ref>