Erich Fromm: Love - the activity of the soul forces

Love is not only a link to a specific person; it - setting, character orientation, which defines the relationship of man to the world as a whole, rather than to a single "object" of love. If a person loves someone one, and indifferent to all the rest, it is not love but a symbiotic attachment, or an extended version of selfishness.

However, most people believe that love depends on the object and not on the ability to love. What they do not like anyone except the "favorite" is considered proof of the power of love. But this is a mistake, as mentioned above.




Not realizing that love - is the activities of the soul force, one thinks that it is enough just to find the right object, and all of them srastetsya

. This unit can be compared to human behavior, who wants to draw, but, instead, to study this, stating that he only needs to find the right kind - and there already it will draw great

. If I really love someone - I love everybody and I love the whole world, I love life. If I tell someone "I love you", I should be able to say: "In you I love all through the world I love you, in you, and I love myself too»

. The statement that love - orientation regarding all and not someone one does not mean, however, that there are no differences between the different types of love, depending on its object.