Love, Romance & Dating

Principles of Love

The Principle of Love is the first principle of the Fourfold Path – the Principles of Happiness. The Principle of love has the highest priority because it is love that brings people the most happiness and this principle is the simplest and easiest for everyone to practice.

“Looking at the suffering in the world, it is clear that most of it springs from pain caused by the attitude of taking love. People only think of what they themselves want and this desire leads to pain. Rather than concentrating on what you want, think about what you can give to others. Then you will find that as soon as you try doing this, your worries disappear”.

(From the book: The Laws of Happiness | p82

The Principle of Love states that people should cease taking love from others, and instead - live by giving love. We usually have a preconceived idea that love is something we receive from others. We instinctively feel happy when we are loved and unhappy when we do not feel loved. However, true love is not something that we take, but something we give. As we become independent and mature adults we must let go of the attitude of “taking love”, which we acquire in the early stages of our lives by receiving love from parents, teachers and many others. The transformation from being a person who “takes love” to someone who “gives love” requires a determination to detach from the past, a sense of social responsibility and understanding the meaning of life on this Earth.

“The Starting Point of Happiness”

The starting point of happiness is abandoning “love that takes” and learning how wonderful it is to give. True love is “Love that gives” and it is the kind of love that constantly gives for no return and expects no reward. “Love that gives” is eternal happiness as it is not conditioned on the love that we receive from others. The earthly world would become Utopia if there were more people thinking “I want to do something for others” rather than those thinking “I want others to do something for me."

"Gratitude is the starting point for “Love That Gives”