Art Of Loving

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Rachael Stultz Dr. Stocker Psychology 215 May 25, 2010 The Art of Loving Erich Fromm defines love as the answer to the problem of human existence. In his book The Art of Loving he explains his theory of love and elaborates on the different objects of love. Though this book was difficult to read it was worth the time. It opened my eyes to many different levels of love. In society today real love is a rare phenomenon. Most people want to be in love and most agree that love is important, yet they think love is simple. People have the wrong mindset when they think that their problem is just finding the right object to love; or the right person. Instead one needs to look at their self for the root of the problem. Why does love fail? Do you truly love? For what reason do you love? Are you even capable of giving true love? (Is this you or Fromm saying this?) If love is just a matter of “falling in” then why does it fail? Love is not just a “falling in” or a state of “being in”; it is “standing in”. It is an art not actively practiced. Fromm explains why he calls love an “Art”. It is easy to understand that love is active and not passive. Love being active takes giving, caring, learning, and growing. If we become aware that love is an art, a living art, we can become better at loving. As it is with other art forms such as music, painting, carpentry, or even medicine mastery is gained by understanding the theory as well as the practice. According to Fromm to understand the theory of love you must look at the theory of Man. As humans, we are aware of only a few certainties in life- the past, and the future as far as that it is death. “We are aware of life being aware of itself.” (Fromm) This awareness separates us from nature and arouses anxiety. Being separate means being cut off; being cut off means being helpless. This points us to why

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