“Giving is the highest expression of potency. In the very act of giving, I experience my strength, my wealth, my power. This experience of heightened vitality and potency fills me with joy. I experience myself as overflowing, spending, alive, hence joyous.”
The Art of Loving by Erich Fromm
When we give, we do not deprive ourselves of anything, we enhance our lives from our abundance, and it comes back to us as joy.
Most importantly, we cannot give what we do not have.
That’s something to remember when you love someone, but they don’t seem to be loving you back the way you wish they would. Everyone loves in the way that they can, unconsciously. They give from what they have. If they feel they have little, they give little. It’s up to you whether you accept their offering of love and continue the relationship, or not.
Love is not a tit-for-tat thing.
We give of our time, our energy, our love, and our finances, voluntarily. When our cup is full and we know it, we feel it, we can’t help but share of it. It cannot be forced or coerced, and it never needs to be.
One little thing that I have to say, though, is that making a law, enacting a tax, using the force of government to make other people share what they have is not love. It’s a lack of faith in humanity, and it spreads that lack of faith. Ultimately, nothing good comes of it. It creates animosity and forces people to take sides against each other.
If you’d like to read more of my thoughts on the book, “The Art of Loving,” check out the following links.
Where Did Our Words for Love Go?
Learning to Concentrate by Being Alone
How to Parent by Respecting the Individual
Can More Faith in Yourself Lead to More Faith in Others?
You can find “The Art of Loving” by Erich Fromm at Thriftbooks.com.
Have you read this book? If so, leave me a comment. I’d love to hear what you think.
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[…] more of my thoughts on the book, “The Art of Loving,” check out the following links.We Cannot Give What We Do Not HaveLearning to Concentrate by Being AloneHow to Parent by Respecting the IndividualCan More Faith in […]