If a man does not love someone, it does not necessarily mean that he hates him; and conversely, if he does not hate him, it does not necessarily mean that he loves him, since he can be neutral towards him, that is, neither love him nor hate him. For the disposition to love is created only the five ways listed in the ninth text of the Century, one commendable, one of an intermediate kind, and three reprehensible. (Maximos the Confessor)

The nine ways previously identified are for the sake of God, by nature, by self-esteem, by avarice, and by self-indulgence.

I have defined love as recognizing an other as an expression of God. Maximos equates love as something closer to friendly affection and warm attraction.

Over the years I have sought to cultivate the ability to "love" those who may repulse me. The good and the beautiful do not always travel together.

Maximos challenges the comfortable distance allowed by my emotion-free definition of love. Love does not merely honor the other, love draws us to the other.

If I truly believe my most repulsive neighbor is an expression of God, I am called - quite reluctantly, I will admit - to open myself to him or her until the repulsion is replaced by some authentic aspect of appreciation.