To love in the sense of passion-love is the contrary of to live. It is an impoverishment of one's being, an askesis without sequel, an inability to enjoy the present without imagining it as absent, a never-ending flight from possession.
Interpretation
True passion can sometimes lead to a depletion of present enjoyment, creating a longing for what is absent.
In this quote, Denis De Rougemont explores the idea that passionate love can consume an individual's entire being, leading to a state of lacking fulfillment in the present moment. This form of love, rather than enhancing life, often diminishes it by instilling a sense of perpetual longing and an inability to fully appreciate what one has, as the mind continuously retreats into fantasies of unattained desires.
In practice
This quote can be used in a discussion about romantic relationships and the nature of passion.
Your heart is like a great river after a long spell of rain, spilling over its banks. All signposts that once stood on the ground are gone, inundated and carried away by that rush of water. And still the rain beats down on the surface of the river. Every time you see a flood like that on the news you tell yourself: That’s it. That’s my heart.
God is love, the bishops tell. _x000D_ Yes, I know, But love is hell.
There is nothing wrong with going to bed with someone of your own sex.
The sun's gone dim, and the moon's gone black. For I loved him, and he didn't love back.
Love is a continual interrogation. I don’t know of a better definition of love.
Love is a state of being, and in that state, the 'me', with its identifications, anxieties, and possessions is absent. Love cannot be, as long as the activities of the self, of the 'me', whether conscious or unconscious, continue to exist.
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