Chapter 13
THE POWER OF LOVE
We have come now to the last and most important part
of our journey together, to the point where we can examine
the means by which real love can be achieved. Let us start
by examining what real love is, its role in life and its component
parts.
Because of their problems in loving, many people arrive at a point where they turn against love itself. Having lost their hope of achieving love, they quite humanly tend to depreciate it, try to minimize its importance. One of the commonest statements I hear from frigid patients in the first interview goes something like this: "Well, it really doesn't matter, I suppose; there aren't very many happy marriages anyway. And I suppose there are more important things than love."
Let us correct any tendency of this kind right here and now.
Using the word in its widest sense, I would say that the ability to love is the single most important characteristic that man has. It is the faculty upon which all the great actions, hopes, and aspirations of the world are founded. Without
