"You are as prone to love as the sun is to shine; it being the most delightful and natural employment of the soul." This beautiful quotation by Thomas Traherne opens David Richo's wonderful book about love. What's so wonderful about it? The author brings a wealth of spiritual riches to his exploration of the subject: he combines Jungian, Buddhist, and mythic perspectives on this complex virtue which is heralded in all the world's religions and wisdom traditions.
In a series of short and snappy reflections, Richo describes love as a capacity, a quality, a commitment, a purpose, a grace, and a practice. He also sees it as a caring connection: "The word caring is from the Latin for 'dear.' We care for someone who is dear to us. Dear means costly: love requires a selflessness that is challenging and taxing at times."
To be able to love another, we must be able to nurture and care for ourselves as well. Richo presents the five As which are essential to our well-being in relationships: Attention, Acceptance, Appreciation, Affection, and Allowing. He delves into the art of befriending our shadow and the roles of the brain in love's many textures and passages. Readers will be interested in his takes on longing and lust, clinging, experiencing release from a fear-based life, power and control, and retaliation in relationships.
Richo has filled the book with many practices to try as love boosters and love enhancers. That is why we recommend How to Be An Adult in Love to you with high hopes that you will take it to heart.
