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“The main condition preventing love is narcissism. The polar opposite of narcissism is objectivity. The way to have objectivity is reason. The attitude grounding reason is humility. To be objective, to use reason, is only possible if one has achieved an attitude of humility. To engage objectively not only when it meets one's needs, but with the whole of mankind for their own sake, means one is halfway to love. But to love is to commit and give completely oneself to another without guarantee, in the hope that the other will come to conceive love in the other. Love is an act of faith. One attitude then is basic to love: inner activity as the careful productive use of one's powers.” — Erich Fromm
The main condition preventing love is narcissism. The polar opposite of narcissism is objectivity. The way to have objectivity is reason. The attitude grounding reason is humility. To be objective, to use reason, is only possible if one has achieved an attitude of humility. To engage objectively not only when it meets one's needs, but with the whole of mankind for their own sake, means one is halfway to love. But to love is to commit and give completely oneself to another without guarantee, in the hope that the other will come to conceive love in the other. Love is an act of faith. One attitude then is basic to love: inner activity as the careful productive use of one's powers.