On Love and Relationships "I do not know if there has ever been a time in history when the word love has been used so promiscuously as it is at present. We are told constantly that we must 'love' everyone. Leaders of movements declare that they 'love' followers they have never met. Enthusiasts of personal-growth workshops and encounter-group weekends emerge from such experiences announcing that they 'love' all people everywhere. Just as a currency, in the process of becoming more and more inflated, has less and less purchasing power, so words, through an analogous process of inflation, through being used less and less discriminately, are progressively emptied of meaning. It is possible to feel benevolence and goodwill toward human beings one does not know or does not know very well. It is not possible to feel love. Aristotle made this observation twenty-five hundred years ago, and we still need to remember it. In forgetting it, all we accomplish is the destruction of the concept of love. Love by its very nature entails a process of selection, of discrimination. Love is our response to what represents our highest values. Love is a response to distinctive characteristics possessed by some beings but not by all. Otherwise, what would be the tribute of love? If love between adults does not imply admiration, if it does not imply an appreciation of traits and qualities that the recipient of love possesses, what meaning or significance would love have and why would anyone consider it desirable?" Related Articles On Love and Relationships Related Books On Love and Relationships Related Audio On Love and Relationships Related Items Q&A: You have defined romantic love as "a passionate spiritual-emotional-sexual attachment that reflects a high regard for the value of each other's person" — Details Reflections on Happiness discusses Dr. Branden's thoughts on how to go beyond merely desiring happiness — and begin making it one's conscious purpose (from Taking Responsibility). Details Valuing Love explores what love is and what it is not. Details