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Blink 3 of 8 - The 5 AM Club
by Robin Sharma
New Visions
All About Love by bell hooks explores love beyond the realm of mere romance. It delves into how love forms the root of happiness, self-worth, compassion, and social justice. It encourages us to approach love with intention, respect, and vulnerability.
What’s a topic we’re all familiar with, one that can be found in the movies we watch, the books we read, and the songs we sing along to? If you’re guessing love, then you’re spot on. But despite being surrounded by images of, and ideas about love, a lot of us have a flawed understanding of what it is exactly. This makes finding love in our own lives a lot harder.
We tend to think of love as strong affection for family, friends, or romantic partners. However, the problem with focusing on that feeling is that we ignore the choices and actions that are necessary for love to truly flourish. In some cases, this emphasis on the feeling even causes us to overlook or excuse actions that are clearly devoid of love. Just consider the fact that many people who are mistreated in relationships insist that they love their partners and their partners love them.
This idea that we’re loved even when we’re being hurt isn’t only associated with romantic relationships; we actually learn it as children. Many parents discipline their children with physical punishment or shouting while still maintaining that they love them. Because of this, children become adults who believe that it’s okay for those who claim to love them to mistreat them.
If we want to truly know love, we need to understand it not just as a feeling, but also as a verb. The author suggests a definition shared by many psychologists and theorists before her: that love is the active nurturing of spiritual growth in ourselves and others.
When we think of love in this way, we start looking for acts of love that we can perform – rather than relying only on feelings – and we create a society that’s less tolerant of abuse and neglect in any kind of relationship.
All About Love (2000) breaks down why love remains elusive for many of us. From our flawed understanding of what love is to our misguided expectations of romantic love, author bell hooks examines common barriers to love and explains the steps individuals need to take for society to become more loving and nurturing.
The love we make in community stays with us wherever we go.
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Start your free trialBlink 3 of 8 - The 5 AM Club
by Robin Sharma