You need to sign in or sign up before continuing.
Take a photo of a barcode or cover
3.7 AVERAGE
3.7 AVERAGE
I have so much to say about this book that I won't because it ruins the value of reading it yourself. I recommend wholeheartedly taking an afternoon to dive into this work of (fittingly) art and love. My view of love has been influenced by this book more than anything else I've read in the past few months.
“all his attempts for love are bound to fail, unless he tries most actively to develop his total personality, so as to achieve a productive orientation; that satisfaction in individual love cannot be attained without the capacity to love one’s neighbor, without true humility, courage, faith and discipline. In a culture in which these qualities are rare, the attainment of the capacity to love must remain a rare achievement”
“Love is the only way of knowledge, which in the act of union answers my quest. In the act of loving, of giving myself, in the act of penetrating the other person, I find myself, I discover myself, I discover us both, I discover man.”
“If you love yourself, you love everybody else as you do yourself. As long as you love another person less than you love yourself, you will not really succeed in loving yourself, but if you love all alike, including yourself, you will love them as one person and that person is both God and man. Thus he is a great and righteous person who, loving himself, loves all others equally."
Love yourself. Know yourself. Love others equally. Speak yourself. Face yourself.
“Love is the only way of knowledge, which in the act of union answers my quest. In the act of loving, of giving myself, in the act of penetrating the other person, I find myself, I discover myself, I discover us both, I discover man.”
“If you love yourself, you love everybody else as you do yourself. As long as you love another person less than you love yourself, you will not really succeed in loving yourself, but if you love all alike, including yourself, you will love them as one person and that person is both God and man. Thus he is a great and righteous person who, loving himself, loves all others equally."
Love yourself. Know yourself. Love others equally. Speak yourself. Face yourself.
challenging
informative
fast-paced
Not an easy read but plenty of beautiful content in this book.
“If a woman told us that she loved flowers, and we saw that she forgot to water them, we would not believe in her “love” for flowers. Love is the active concern for the life and the growth of that which we love.”
“If a woman told us that she loved flowers, and we saw that she forgot to water them, we would not believe in her “love” for flowers. Love is the active concern for the life and the growth of that which we love.”
Tei read this book in one -almost whole- day.. and that is because of one thing, and one thing only.. I LOVE HOW THIS MAN THINKS! he is more than brilliant and i do intend on reading all of his books.
one think you should know about Erich Fromm, if you aren't familiar with his work..
he is a complicated man with simple ideas, however!. even though the idea in itself is as plain as it can be. u cant help but get lost while reaching it. i was reading the E-book while listening to the audio book. highlighting, pausing and sometimes rewinding just to grasp the full concept of what he's trying to say. and i know this because. I've read the fear of freedom a while back and i did get lost.. LUCKILY, i didn't finished the book without getting my hands on a few really good points that made perfect sense to me..
back to this book..
the book talked about the art of loving. beginning with the most obvious question.. is love an art?
of course love is an art. but most people do not know or think that it is. they think that love is simple,, but! finding that object to lay our love unto is difficult.. thinking that love is the easiest thing one could do. or get into without actually doing anything. but you see.. love has it kinds and in all it kinds, stages!..
people have a false assumption that there is nothing to be learned about love. because they are confused between the initial experience of "Falling" in love and the permanent stage of being in love. or remaining in love or "standing" in love..
Fromm divided the book into two chapters. explaining what love is.. the "Theory" of love. and the practice.. for mastery as Fromm said it. comes from both!
so that love can be achieved u need four elements: care (active concern for the life and the growth of that which we love), responsibility (duty), respect ( the ability to see a person as he is), knowledge (the desire to penetrate into the secret of man's soul, into the innermost nucleus. which is he).
the writer explained all kinds of love. from the physical attraction. to the motherly love. i personally loved his comparison between the motherly and the fatherly love.. i dunno if i can explain it the way he did but the motherly love doesn't need a reason it validates u just because from the moment you two are united but the fatherly love isn't as instinctive, it comes with trials of approvals and disapprovals.
another point i liked! the selfish person. we think that selfish people love only themselves but we are mistaken for they are incapable of doing so, they cant love themselves nor others.
through the book ( and that what got me confused most of the time) the personal notes of the author concerning Freud's theory of love, sometimes agreeing and sometimes disagreeing.
finally. the practice of love. how it needs discipline! concentration and patience. ( which i lack all things. personally i lack discipline. indulging ones self in whatever. sometimes we need the rigidness of life. its there for a reason and i can see that when i look at older generation like my dad. i lack the concentration. i seem to multi-task all the time thinking that actually taking my time in doing something will waste my time.. and so what ! i ended up having time yes but only to KILL IT! take ur time sit with yourself. the idea is scary and to me it will bring negativity and depression. but we have to face it. we have to.. learning to concentrate cant be achieved without learning to be alone with oneself with nothing. no distractions whatsoever.) concentration means to live fully in the present here and now and not think of the next thing to do or of the time u want to spend somewhere else.
one of my favorite statement that Fromm mentioned is.. overcoming ones narcissism, to think of other things other than yourself. narcissistic people's reality are themselves. period. once u think of others and everything else objectively u will emerge from narcissism.
have u noticed how un-lively we've become? we are half asleep when we are awake and half awake when we are asleep... ponder on this one :)
one think you should know about Erich Fromm, if you aren't familiar with his work..
he is a complicated man with simple ideas, however!. even though the idea in itself is as plain as it can be. u cant help but get lost while reaching it. i was reading the E-book while listening to the audio book. highlighting, pausing and sometimes rewinding just to grasp the full concept of what he's trying to say. and i know this because. I've read the fear of freedom a while back and i did get lost.. LUCKILY, i didn't finished the book without getting my hands on a few really good points that made perfect sense to me..
back to this book..
the book talked about the art of loving. beginning with the most obvious question.. is love an art?
of course love is an art. but most people do not know or think that it is. they think that love is simple,, but! finding that object to lay our love unto is difficult.. thinking that love is the easiest thing one could do. or get into without actually doing anything. but you see.. love has it kinds and in all it kinds, stages!..
people have a false assumption that there is nothing to be learned about love. because they are confused between the initial experience of "Falling" in love and the permanent stage of being in love. or remaining in love or "standing" in love..
Fromm divided the book into two chapters. explaining what love is.. the "Theory" of love. and the practice.. for mastery as Fromm said it. comes from both!
so that love can be achieved u need four elements: care (active concern for the life and the growth of that which we love), responsibility (duty), respect ( the ability to see a person as he is), knowledge (the desire to penetrate into the secret of man's soul, into the innermost nucleus. which is he).
the writer explained all kinds of love. from the physical attraction. to the motherly love. i personally loved his comparison between the motherly and the fatherly love.. i dunno if i can explain it the way he did but the motherly love doesn't need a reason it validates u just because from the moment you two are united but the fatherly love isn't as instinctive, it comes with trials of approvals and disapprovals.
another point i liked! the selfish person. we think that selfish people love only themselves but we are mistaken for they are incapable of doing so, they cant love themselves nor others.
through the book ( and that what got me confused most of the time) the personal notes of the author concerning Freud's theory of love, sometimes agreeing and sometimes disagreeing.
finally. the practice of love. how it needs discipline! concentration and patience. ( which i lack all things. personally i lack discipline. indulging ones self in whatever. sometimes we need the rigidness of life. its there for a reason and i can see that when i look at older generation like my dad. i lack the concentration. i seem to multi-task all the time thinking that actually taking my time in doing something will waste my time.. and so what ! i ended up having time yes but only to KILL IT! take ur time sit with yourself. the idea is scary and to me it will bring negativity and depression. but we have to face it. we have to.. learning to concentrate cant be achieved without learning to be alone with oneself with nothing. no distractions whatsoever.) concentration means to live fully in the present here and now and not think of the next thing to do or of the time u want to spend somewhere else.
one of my favorite statement that Fromm mentioned is.. overcoming ones narcissism, to think of other things other than yourself. narcissistic people's reality are themselves. period. once u think of others and everything else objectively u will emerge from narcissism.
have u noticed how un-lively we've become? we are half asleep when we are awake and half awake when we are asleep... ponder on this one :)
it was pretty eye-opening in some ways but tbh i only started reading it because i had read some quotes and felt it affirmed some of my own thoughts
emotional
hopeful
informative
inspiring
reflective
slow-paced
challenging
hopeful
informative
inspiring
reflective
medium-paced
emotional
informative
inspiring
reflective
medium-paced
medium-paced