Mornin' y'all,

Just a simple reminder about love...

(from an interview with Nathaniel Branden, psychologist) Interview

Let yourself know and fully experience how important love is and honor that importance in your actions. Don't ever be careless with love. Be aware of the preciousness of each moment of your existence. Be aware that none of us is immortalthe clock is always ticking and none of us knows how long any of us has got. The time to let that other person experience how loved and valued he or she is by us, is right now. It's one thing to loveand quite another to have the wisdom and courage to live that love fully, unreservedly, and to the hilt. Fully to surrender to love can be terrifying, but it's the price life asks of us in exchange for the possibility of ecstasy.

-- eve (eve_rebekah@yahoo.com), June 15, 2000

Answers

WHOA...(as Keanu Reeves has probably said at least once in practically every movie he's ever been in)...I didn't mean for the whole thing to turn out as a link.

By the way, if you're interested in the whole interview, the linked one is Part 2; I think you can click back to Part 1.

-- eve (eve_rebekah@yahoo.com), June 15, 2000.

I'm sure it sounds ridiculous to most folks but there are actually people who have as much trouble accepting love as in giving it.

-- Lars (lars@indy.net), June 15, 2000.

Hi Eve, you just need to put a

</a>

after the word "Interview" to stop this from happening.

This IS a good quote. Just scanning the interview I see he refers to many other topics we have covered here. ( Hope my nitpicking was welcome :^) )

-- Debbie (dbspence@usa.net), June 15, 2000.

Turning this topic upside down,

I heard someone in a cynical mood say recently, "The one who cares the least, controls the relationship"

I would just have to add - probably for not very long!

-- Debbie (dbspence@usa.net), June 15, 2000.

Lars,

Actually, and sadly, your observation is very true. But I think those who have trouble accepting love have low self-esteem and so don't see themselves as lovable. So they probably see anything that might resemble love coming to them, as something other than love. And ironically, this is more comforting to them than forcing themselves to accept love, because the latter would cause a kind of cognitive dissonance that the love-object would then seek relief from through disowning or rejecting the love as not being authentic. This is because the "love" can't be real in their view, as it doesn't comport with their view of themselves.

Hi Debbie,

Thanks so much for your helping this poor link-impaired soul. And you should read the whole interview; I think it's a fascinating one. It's actually part 2, but I think you can click back to part 1. Branden also had a decades-long association with Ayn Rand, so if you're into her philosophy, the interview becomes even more interesting, as she had a huge influence on him; he discusses personal aspects of their association as well.

Also, regarding your comment in the second post: Given that the "controllee" has a reasonable level of self-esteem, you're absolutely right.

-- eve (eve_rebekah@yahoo.com), June 15, 2000.

Many times love is viewed as the unattainable,unachievable prize that not everyone will or can win.It can be looked at much as the different ways we percieve the holidays,for some it is a time of happiness and cheer,while for many it is seen looming in the distance coming closer each day,wishing it would hurry up,so it can get over with.

Out of all the emotions love is the most diverse,love can often drive us to hate but not often can hate drive us to love.

Even after having loved completely,after my wife passed away,love became an evil stranger that I was better off to disregard,because it was better to deny the emotion than it was to revisit what could not possibly be achieved again.Afterall I had found my soul-mate and soul- mates can't be replaced.Many people go their whole lives not ever knowing love and was I to ask for it twice.

Love is THE MOST complex thing in the universe but at the same time it is the simplest.Just some random thoughts.

-- capnfun (capnfun1@excite.com), June 15, 2000.