Art of Loving

The Art of Loving

The word love is sometimes used too often, and in other cases it is not used enough. Most people do not have a full understanding of the word. This book was written to give a full and absolute description of love. It talks about how it is portrayed, and how it should really be done. As humans, we were programmed to love from the day we come out of the womb. Erich Fromm takes apart love and all of its aspects in the wonderful book, The Art of Loving. He goes into much more depth than anyone I have ever heard. The concepts that this man has come up with are borderline mind-blowing. He made me think about life more than any author I have ever read. Almost any question that could be asked about love is answered by Fromm in a unique way through applications and descriptions. Without love, there is no life. Therefore, it is important to understand love's origins and how it majorly affects human life.

Love all began with the realization of how lonely the world can be without spending one's time on Earth with a significant other. Being aware of isolation and loneliness is what started the act of loving. Interacting with other humans and getting to understand how they function and their personalities makes life interesting. Humans crave relief from the feeling of isolation from the rest of the world, and love began. I never really gave a thought to exactly why we do love. Loneliness is one of the worst feelings in the world, so it makes total sense for humans to adapt out of that feeling and develop the love for other people. Since the beginning of humanity, there are now other activities that can solve this loneliness, but love is still, and always will be, the number one remedy.

Fromm's main opinion on love is that it is a trait that can be taught and matured. It is not a noun or an object, but instead it is a verb. One cannot be a master lover simply overnight. It takes a lot of practice to make love easy. Through his eyes someone cannot simply "fall in love" with someone else, they "become in love". They choose to love this person. I do not totally agree with his analysis. If you meet someone who is everything you have ever been looking for, then why not fall in love. As time passes and the relationship begins to become more serious the love scale just keeps getting higher and higher. Sure you choose to love this person, but on some occasions love can be out of your control. Fromm also says that love is not something magical that cannot be explained. Before reading this book, I had very few words to describe love. As a teenager, all kinds of emotions are going on and being mixed together. It is hard to feel true love at this point in my life. Sometimes what seems like the feeling of love comes upon me towards a certain person, but then vanishes moments later. I cannot explain at all why this happens. Is my mind