As the hydra in Greek mythology, love can take many forms – surely many more forms than the nine heads of most versions of the hydra of Lake Lerna…
Filial and paternal love, as found in Corinthians («Love is patient, love is kind…»), is just one form of love. As it is passionate love, the love involving a man and a woman, the most eulogised form of love, described by Shakespeare in Romeo and Juliet as a «smoke made with the fume of sighs», and as a «fire sparkling in lovers' eyes», and a «sea nourished with lovers' tears», when vexed.
There are indeed many other forms of love, besides these: the love of friends, of life, of ideas, of animals, of music and other forms of art. Or the love of God, of power, of money, of cruelty…
Yes. Love may involve the bad side of the hydra myth. Some of the forms of love are clearly perversions (to love money, for instance), or monstrosities (the sadistic love, of some executioners and psychopaths...)
And unfortunately there isn’t any radical way of suppressing the monster. We can’t kill it, as Heracles killed the bad hydra. The source from where perverted love sprouts is the same one that feeds the magnificent unperverted ones. The monster side of love is associated with Beauty (as in the Beauty and the Beast story), and we simply can’t destroy it. We need it. It gives meaning to our lives (including the lives of those who cultivate the love of money, or to hate). The only thing we can do is to fight the bad heads of the hydra, denouncing them.
