LOVE AS THE 399. MOST USED CZECH WORD

Similarly, we often use the graphic form of this word. We send each other hearts in text messages, we take pictures with our partner on social networks in such a way that no one doubts that in our case it is the true and unadulterated „love.“ Erich Fromm refers to the kind of love that is not experienced directly between the partners, but mediated through shared emotion over an external medium (be it the aforementioned photos or a romantic film) as sentimental love. Such love supports the notion of the relationship between two people as an alienated „work team“ aimed at maximizing work performance and minimizing feelings of loneliness.

LOVE AS A CONCEPT MISINTERPRETED BY PATRIARCHY

Behind these hyper-really happy images there is often a painful reality. Every third woman and every tenth child in the Czech Republic has a very different experience of the concept of love. Children who experience physical violence from their parents (mostly fathers) can often hear that „it’s because of love.“ Men’s physical violence against their partners is justified with the formula „I do it because I love you.“ For these people, the concept of love is also something that hurts. But love is made up of actions, not words. And such actions certainly have nothing to do with loving and respect.

LOVE AS A SPIRITUAL NEED

A happy inner life is created by consciously experiencing interpersonal relationships, not by replacing them with consumption. And it does not have to be only the consumption of material goods and would-be original experiences, but also the consumption of the spiritual (institutionalized churches and religions, where the spiritual moment becomes an obligation and an empty gesture) and the degradation of the fellow human being into an object of consumption, where we look at them as „it.“ To be truly able to regard them as „You,“ while looking at other´s face we must not look at particular aspects, such as the color of their eyes and skin or the shape of their lips, but we must perceive what is behind the face, and offer our own face to the encounter, unconcealed behind poses. Love is nothing automatic. The art of love has to be learned, and it requires activity, discipline and the strength to trust. Love is not compatible with the market economy, because paying the agreed price is in opposition to loving! Love always gives more than is fair, more than one is entitled to.