Your Love Allowed Me To Be Free
Erich Fromm in his book “The Art of Loving” reminds us that ” love is not an easy feeling for anyone regardless of the degree of maturity reached “. Does this mean that loving is synonymous with suffering, no matter how clear we have everything? Can’t you be free being in a relationship or loving other people? We will try to answer these questions below.
However, before moving on, it is worth remembering that Erich Fromm does not link love only to a couple in love in his excellent work. Try to respond to the feelings that arise from brotherly love, between parents and children, with friends, etc. After all, they are all ways of loving.
What is it to be free?
It is not easy to explain the underlying concept of the expression “to be free. ” If we pay attention to its literal meanings, the RAE itself provides different meanings related to freedom, such as the conscience to act and think with its own will, but always under the precepts of a higher order.
In other words, the RAE introduces us to a world of rules beyond our own human conscience, within which we can act freely as long as what is established as correct, legal or mandatory, depending on how you look at it, is not exceeded.
In other words, the very word freedom offers us a limited capacity to be free if we pay attention to the concept as such. Does this mean that love itself could be a rule in itself within which to feel free? Let’s keep investigating until we get to the bottom of the matter.
What is love?
When we speak of love, we enter a world of very varied concepts depending on the point of reference from which we observe it. Thus, different meanings can be sought by varying the perspective. From an artistic, religious or philosophical point of view, love can have somewhat different meanings.
A romantic poet like Byron or Becquer, with his wild and tormented vision of feelings, did not see love the same as a renowned psychoanalyst like Freud, who formed his vision through contact with patients.
Currently, concepts such as love are still quite diffuse and different theories about them still emerge. Since everyone’s attitudes, experiences, and emotions are involved, creating a sensible definition that works for everyone is complex.
However, we can center the concept of love on virtue, affection, compassion, attachment, positive feelings and emotions, etc. That is, a torrent of sensations that allow the human being to feel better about himself and his environment.
Can love set you free?
Now is the time to try to answer the big question. Can love really set a person free? The truth is that yes, although we must clarify certain points before answering this question emphatically.
As we have said, each person can see love from a different context. What for me may be a field of sentimental and emotional experimentation for another could focus on the merely philosophical aspects.
However, taking into account the concept of freedom as the ability of the human being to act with his own will under an environment of rules, and knowing that love, from any perspective, has a series of conditions such as affection, fidelity or affection , it is evident that yes it is possible to be free thanks to the love.
Now, love and freedom should never be confused with happiness. Relationships can be full of affection, chaotic, stormy, and even empty. None of this is at odds, since none of the concepts of freedom and love necessarily imply happiness.
Love, be free and happiness
A being will act freely and with enormous love towards other people or beings, but this fact does not have to make him happy. What’s more, anyone can be loved or loved and never feel free and find the wonderful world that they think they deserve.
However, a being who knows himself well and knows his needs, limits and capacities, can be free to feel loved and enjoy all the benefits that this concept, feeling, emotion or whatever you want to call it can provoke In us.
