I was able to obtain an eBook edition of Erich Fromm’s The Art of Loving. In this book the famous psychologist explores ways that people can become more loving with one another.
Although Dr. Fromm never uses the word ‘agapé,’ in those places where he uses ‘love’ in a universal, spiritual way that the meaning is ‘agapé,’ I found that I gained deeper awareness of his teaching when the word 'love' was changed to ‘agape’ in the following quotes.
“What matters in relation to agapé is the faith in one’s own agapé; in its ability to produce a reaction of agape in others, and in its reliability.
“The capacity to experience agape demands a state of intensity, awareness, enhanced vitality, which can only be the result of a productive and active orientation in many other spheres of life.
“There is only one proof for the presence of agapé: the depth of the relationship, and the aliveness and strength in each person concerned; this is the fruit by which agape is recognized.
“Agapé is an activity, a power of the soul.
“Agapé encompasses the sense of responsibility, care, respect, knowledge of any other human being, the wish to further another’s life. Agape is love for all human beings; it is characterized by its very lack of exclusiveness.
“Agapé is not primarily a relationship to a specific person; it involves an attitude, an orientation of character which determines the relatedness of a person to the world as a whole, not toward one “object” of love. Agapé is an active power in us; a power which breaks through the walls which separate one from another, which unites us with others; agapé makes us overcome the sense of isolation and separateness, yet it permits us to be ourselves, to retain our integrity.
“There is no ‘division of labor’ between agapé for one’s own and agapé for strangers.
“If I truly share agapé with one person, I’m open to agapé with all persons, I have agapé with the world, I’m open to agapé with life. If I can say to somebody else, “I share agapé with you,” I must be able to say, “I share agapé with you in everybody, I share agapé through you to the world, I share agapé in you also myself.”
“Those who are seriously concerned with agapé as the only rational answer to the problem of human existence must arrive at the conclusion that important and radical changes in our social structure are necessary. To have faith in the possibility of agapé as a social and not only exceptional-individual phenomenon, is a rational faith based on the insight into the very human nature.”
Dr. Fromm’s insights thus fit in with the other insights about agapé that I’ve explored throughout the postings of this blog. In this blog I’ve tried to show what Dr. Fromm meant about “the only rational answer to the problem of human existence.”
