Rs Reaction Paper

Jamie Catherine H. Go

RS 113 – F

September 8, 2014

Reaction Paper

The article of M. Scott Peck talks about a deeper meaning of what love is and is not. His attempt to unravel the mystery of genuine love, for me, is adequate enough for people to understand the essence of love. He has pointed out a lot of things which are commonly misunderstood as love but are merely futile and therefore are not tolerable to qualify as definitions of love. These definitions are also my own misconceptions of what love is and I am greatly enlightened after reading this article.

Based on Peck’s love article, love is connected with the goal of achieving spiritual growth and a process of opening oneself with others. Through this, the person is able to grow and love genuinely as matured persons. It also requires a lot of effort and will to truly love someone, including oneself. It shows that being able to love demands a lot from oneself as it requires to be able to have a wider perspective of things and to be willing to open oneself to another. A person must be ready to commit and give a wide berth to someone he loves in order to love genuinely. This, of course, necessitates loving oneself first.

It has also shed light on my perceptions of love when it discussed about the various misconceptions of love. It is said that love is different from falling in love because the latter is only temporary while the former is more long lasting. Loving is also not being dependent with one’s partner. Each one should be able to grow and improve independently as the author says. Moreover, love is not a feeling but a commitment because feelings disappear too quickly whereas commitment involves a will, a choice of the person to love genuinely even when feelings somehow disappear. I agree with all of these ideas because I myself have pondered over what an ideal love should be and have arrived with similar conclusions. What intrigued me is the idea that love is not self-sacrifice. Prior to reading this...