Love | The Road Less Traveled

I have attempted to transcend the distinction between desire and action. Desire is not necessarily translated into action. ... The difference between the two is equal to the difference between saying "I would like to go swimming tonight" and "I will go swimming tonight." Everyone in our culture desires to some extent to be loving, yet many are not in fact loving. I therefore conclude that the desire to love is not itself love.

Discipline, it has been suggested, is the means of human evolution. What lies in back of discipline – what provides its motive, the energy for discipline? This force I believe to be love.

I define love thus: The will to extend one's self for the purpose of nurturing one's own or another's spiritual growth.

The act of extending one's limits implies effort. One extends one's limits only by exceeding them, and exceeding limits requires effort.

It is actually impossible to forsake our own spiritual development in favor of someone else's. We cannot forsake self-discipline and at the same time be disciplined in our care for another. We cannot be a source of strength unless we nurture our own strength.

I have attempted to transcend the distinction between desire and action. Desire is not necessarily translated into action. ... The difference between the two is equal to the difference between saying "I would like to go swimming tonight" and "I will go swimming tonight." Everyone in our culture desires to some extent to be loving, yet many are not in fact loving. I therefore conclude that the desire to love is not itself love.

Dr. M. Scott Peck

The Road Less Traveled

From Section II: Love

Subsection:

Love Defined