Reimagining Love

<p>An emotion or an action, a kind of madness or a state of well-being, a measurable brain activity or a spiritual phenomenon: What is the truth about love? Richard White explores this elusive concept as a profound path of self-overcoming – a turning away from narcissism, fear, and isolation toward greater openness, receptivity, and compassion.<br><br><i>Reimagining Love</i> unfolds in four movements, through the <i>fear of love</i> as expressed in Stoicism and the modern achievement-oriented self; the <i>awakening of love</i> described by Plato, J.W. von Goethe, Rainer Maria Rilke, and others; the <i>work of love</i> and the cultivation of its virtues; and love as <i>active compassion</i>, a way of engaging with the world attentively, courageously, and non-possessively. White unites theory and practice, arguing that personal love can open outward into universal compassion, echoing the Buddhist ideal of <b>karu</b><b>ṇ</b><b>ā</b> – the selfless embrace of another’s suffering. Central to this vision is love’s <i>spiritual dimension</i>. It is not religious as such, but a source of meaning grounded in our sense of connection to something greater: nature, truth, justice, or the sacred itself.<br><br>Written with clarity and quiet authority, <i>Reimagining Love</i> offers a meditation on the ethical and existential significance of love for denizens of a disenchanted world.</p>