There are many ways of looking at this very common question that people ask; love and friendship: are they synonymous? The simplest answer to this is that love and friendship are not synonymous however friendship can lead to love. It basically depends upon a person’s perception and how he sees a particular relationship specially that of friendship. There are several individuals who prefer being friends with someone they love either to reach that level where they can show their love or if they find out that the person is involved with someone else. In either case, the concept of friendship is devastated.

A third person who witnesses someone who is in love with a particular girl and is playing friends with her would immediately think that love and friendship are synonymous but the truth is something else. The truth here is that there is no friendship in fact it is pure love disguised in the form of friendship.

Another concept that mostly people have is that there can never be friendship in the opposite sexes and either one of them falls for the other person or has an attraction for them. This concept is actually true and is accepted widely by most. To understand whether love and friendship are synonymous we must know what exactly love is and what is friendship.

Love can be simply defined as a table that stands on four legs which are trust, reliability, comfort level and connection. By connection we are referring to a spiritual connection that builds up between two individuals. If we ponder over these four pillars we will realize that three of them are present in friendship as well. Trust, reliability and comfort level are there in friendships as well but the spiritual connection is not. As soon as this spiritual connection is formed and a person starts realizing that he cannot survive without his so called friend that is the time to realize that the friendship is now turning into love. This spiritual connection is the basic essence of love and once it is formed it cannot be broken easily. Now, there are rarely people who understand this notion and for the most of them love is merely a physical relationship with a person they are comfortable with. For such people, love and friendship may be synonymous.

How to differentiate between love and friendship?

It is quite easy to differentiate between love and friendship. If a person feels he or she is in love with someone they can try being away from them for a while and see the results. If it is true love they would find themselves pining for each other but if it’s just that they are great friends and used to living with each other then it won’t be a problem in moving on with their lives.

It is important to realize the difference between love and friendship in order to make the right decision. In teenagers, this phenomenon of not being able to differentiate between both the relationships is common. Therefore it is the responsibility of the parents to make sure their teen is going the right way.

Author Bio: Christine Crotts loves to cook in her kitchen with a crowd seated around the kitchen island. Christine has written a site with reviews of custom kitchen islands, as well as a review of kitchen islands for sale.

Category: Relationships
Keywords: spiritual connection,true love,pure love,love and friendship, friendship