Our two basic emotional reactions, our environment, self assertion and affection, are fused in the process of integration, to produce that combination of strength and sympathetic tenderness for which love is the true name. Love is more than tender feeling. It is strong capable of service and sacrifice for those for who we feel affection. In general human intercourse it is expressed as firm friendliness. In more intimate relationships it shows as determined persistence, purposefulness over long periods of time in considerate care for those who are the objects of our affections. In the life of the community it reveals itself as a capacity for genuine public spirit and disinterested endeavour for the welfare of the whole. This going out of oneself and giving of oneself to others is only possible in so far as we are not distracted and forced back upon the service of self by internal fears, conflicts and a sense of insecurity or stability in the personality itself.
Posted in
taken from:
Psychology for Ministers and Social Workers page 219
date:
1951