LiebesArt : Mosaiksteine

Kurzfassung/Abstract

Erich Fromm once wrote a book entitled The Art of Loving, published in 1956. It sparked a discussion that is still far from being finished with tantalizing questions that invite responses. This article, which seeks only to raise the issues, takes up one of these questions, namely, whether married love – one that is born of an irrevocable decision to devote one’s life to one’s partner – is possible at all and, if so, how. The desire for a love that yearns for 'deep, deep eternity' (Friedrich Nietzsche) does not seem at all passé today to those who know how to interpret some of the unmistakable signs of the times with care. There is no denying that the ideal of a man and woman who love one another in such a way that it lasts for a lifetime is operative in today’s culture. Love wants to last, not end. People who truly love each other can desire many things; however, they cannot possibly want their love to end. True love does not want to be over, and lovers do not want at some point to be done with love. Yet, wanting is not making it happen. The question must therefore be how what exists as desired and wanted can also exist as a lived life that arrives at happiness and endurance. This is the time of the 'Art of Love' because it is exactly this: to achieve happiness and enduring affection as the very nature of love.