Erich Fromm

Respect means the concern that the other person should grow and unfold as they are. Respect, thus, implies the absense of exploitation. I want the loved person to grow and unfold for their own sake, and not for the purpose of serving me. If I love the other person, I feel one with him or her, but with them as they are, not as I need them to be as an object for my use. It is clear that respect is only possible if I have achieved independence, without having to exploit anyone else. Respect exists only on the basis of freedom, for love is the child of freedom, never that of domination.

Love is a decision, it is a judgment, it is a promise. If love were only a feeling, there would be no basis for the promise to love each other forever. A feeling comes and it may go. How can I judge that it will stay forever, when my act does not involve judgment and decision.

Love means to commit oneself without guarantee, to give oneself completely in the hope that our love will produce love in the loved person. Love is an act of faith, and whoever is of little faith is also of little love.

7 thoughts on “Erich Fromm

  1. s.A

    Love is not primarily a relationship to a specific person; it is an attitude, an ordination of character which determines the relatedness of the person to the whole world as a whole, not toward one object of love.

    Immature love says: "I love you because I need you." Mature love says "I need you because I love you."

    Creativity requires the courage to let go of certainties.

    Love isn't something natural. Rather it requires discipline, concentration, patience, faith, and the overcoming of narcissism. It isn't a feeling, it is a practice.

    It is naively assumed that the fact that the majority of people share certain ideas and feelings proves the validity of these ideas and feelings. Nothing could be further from the truth. Consensual validation as such has no bearing on reason or mental health.

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  2. Anonymous

    while laying on mother ocean and being with father sky, they have filled my emptiness with their force of love, so full and my spirit is so light and free to travel in and out of my body. I was their happy child. Spa, sun, music, fishes… thousands of them and got a tiny bitten, scary but my fault. I have bought food to them but didn't release as quickly as I should. those 10 inches yellows are so fierce…

    download was not working, instead the shelf door of library was unlocked. from hundreds books, this small one “thePower” – was calling me… and I totally into it and enjoyed a great deal.

    back to land, I was ill and have all the negative force inside. I was mad with myself for my weakness, my heart thumping so fast that I had no strength to stand up. I want my weakness go away, I want this feelings to get off my body so I can become normal and logic and sensible as the writer.
    and here it is,
    writer message: Love isn't something natural. and this feeling is not love and it will go away… what a relief!

    below bits and pieces from thePower book:
    about power of Love
    the kind of love that the greatest thinkers and saviors of the world talked about is very different from what most people understand love to be. It is much more than loving your family, friends, and favorite things, because love is not just a feeling; love is a positive force. Love is the positive force of life. Love is the cause of everything positive and good. There are not a hundred differnet posstive forces in life; there is only one, the force of love.
    Life is simple. Your life is made up of only two kinds of things – positive things and negative things. Each area of your life, whether it's your health, money, relationships work or happiness, is either positive or negative to you. You see other people who are happy and fulfilled and whose lives are full of great things, and something tells you that you deserve all that too. And you're right you do deserve a life overflowing with good things. Without exception, every person who has a great life used love to achieve it. The power to have all the positive and good things in life is love!
    the invisible force of love, experience its power is far greater than any of nature's powers. Love is the force that movers you. Without love, there is no life. None of your family and friends would have been born either. There wouldn't be a single human being on the planet. If the force of love ceased today, the entire human race would decrease and eventually die out. Every single invention discovery and human creation came from the love in a human heart. Everything you want to be, do, or have comes from love. The positive force of love can create anything good, and change anything negative in your life. You have an unlimited ability to think and talk about what you love, and so you have an unlimited ability to bring everything good in life to you! You have the power over your health, your wealth, your career, your relationships, and every area of your life. And that power of love is inside you. You have a choice whether to love and harness the positive force or not.

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  3. Anonymous

    In any moment, you're giving either positive thoughts or negative thoughts. Through your thoughts and your feelings, you give positivity, you receive back a life filled of positive things, give negativity, you receive back a life filled with negative things. Life doesn't just happen to you, you receive everything in your life based on what you have given. Talk about what you love, to bring what you love to you. Every time you talk about what you don't love, you are locking yourself away from all the good. People who have great lives talk more about what they love. By doing so, they gain unlimited access to all the good in life, and they are as free as the birds that soar in the sky.

    Live today. Not yesterday. Not tomorrow just today. Inhabit your moments, don't rent them out to tomorrow –Jerry spinelli
    It's not what happens to you, but how you react to it that matters—Epictetus
    Through your ability to think and feel, you have dominion over all creation—Neville Goddard
    we are a feeling being. our feelings are the fuel. How we feel in any one moment is more important than anything else, because how we feel right now is creating our life.
    our thoughts and words have no power at all in our life without our feelings. We think so many thoughts in a day that don't amount to anything because many of our thoughts don't elicit a strong feeling within us, It's what we feel that matters. If you can feel it you can receive it.

    Tipping point :tip the scales by giving 51 percent love through your good thoughts and good feelings.
    it is how we live today that creates our future. It is what you feel today that matters, because it is the only thing that determines your future. Every day is an opportunity for a new life, because every single day you stand at the tipping point of your life. Tip the balance to good feelings. The force of love will change your life so fast that you will scarcely believe it.
    The creation process: imagine, feel and receive. Feeling is creation. But whenever your feeling is in conflict with your wish, feeling will be the victor.
    Good feelings, love is the source of all good feelings. gratitude joy passion excitement, enthusiasm hope satisfaction,passionate.
    Good feelings mean you feel really good and feeling really good is what brings a really good life. Feeling okay, is not really feeling anything much at all, Okay is average, that is not a good life.
    'whatever you want in your life, you want it because you love it and because it will make you feel good. Whatever you don't want in your life you don't want because it will make you feel bad. You want happy relationships because they make you feel good, and difficult relationships make you feel bad. And to be unhappy feels bad. You have to be happy first, and give happiness, to receive happy things. It can't happen any other way. Because what ever you want to receive in life, you must give first. The force of love will give back to you whatever you give out.

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  4. Anonymous

    Through feeling:“Then you will know the truth and the truth will set you free” –Jesus
    Feeling is the secret, A change of feeling is a change of destiny—Neville Goddard
    Magnetic frequency: everything in the universe is magnetic and everything has a magnetic frequency. Your frequency is always exactly whatever you are feeling. To change frequency, is to change how you feel. Different feeling frequencies will determine the outcome of each subject. Take your feelings off automatic pilot. Every single second is an opportunity to change your life, it doesn't matter what mistakes you think you may have made. When you change the way you feel, you are on a different frequency. And the law of attraction responds instantaneously. When you change the way you feel, the past has gone. Your life changes.

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  5. Anonymous

    in generally
    love results marriage
    love is a marriage with feeling for each other
    love is a marriage without much feeling

    love could be with feeling.
    love could be without feeling.
    love has no condition
    love is giving
    love add self need last.

    but Love is a decision? it is a judgment?
    Love is serious
    love is commitment

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