Ways and Power of Love, The
Details and Description
Description
The Ways and Power of Love was originally published in 1954 when Pitirim Sorokin was in the twilight of his career and leading the Harvard Research Center in Creative Altruism. His elaborate scientific analysis of love with regard to its higher and lower forms, its causes and effects, its human and cosmic significance, and its core features constitutes the first study on this topic in world literature to date.
Sorokin was the one absolutely essential twentieth-century pioneer in the study of love at the interface of science and religion. Bringing The Ways and Power of Love back into print allows a new generation of readers to appreciate Sorokin's genius and to move forward with his endeavor at a time when civilization itself continues to be threatened by a marked inability to live up to the ideal of love for all humankind. It is certainly right to hope, with Sorokin, that progress in knowledge about love can move humanity forward to a better future. Turning the sciences toward the study of love is no easy task, but it can and must be done.
Table of Contents
Preface xi
Introduction by Stephen G. Post xv
Part I – Love: Its Aspects, Dimensions, Production, Transformation, and Power
1. The Manifoldness of Love and Its Main Aspects 3
2. The Five-Dimensional Universe of Psychosocial Love 15
3. Tentative Considerations on Production, Accumulation, and Distribution of Love Energy 36
4. Power of Creative Love 47
Part II – Structure of Creative Personality
5. Mental Structure and Energies of Man 83
6. The Supraconscious in Man’s Mental Structure, Creativity, and Cognition 98
7. Forms and Ways of Personality Integration and Creativity 115
Part III – The Ways of Altruistic Growth
8. Supreme Love and Supraconsciousness 125
9. Three Types of Altruists and Three Courses of Altruistic Growth 144
10. Ideological and Behavioral Altruistic Self-Identification 175
11. Factors in the Early Integration of the Fortunate Altruists 184
12. Inner Conflicts and Precipitating Factors of the Late Altruists 206
13. Types of Altruistic Rearrangement of Group Affiliations and Environment 232
14. Trials and Pains of Reintegration of Behavior 255
15. Types of Controls of Biological Drives 273
Part IV – Techniques of Altruistic Transformation of Persons and Groups
16. The Ego-Centered and the Ego-Transcending Forms of Love and Techniques 287
17. The Techniques of Altruistic Transformation (continued) 309
18. The Techniques of Altruistic Transformation (concluded) 332
19. The Unified Techniques of Patanjali’s and Other Yogas 356
20. The Monastic System of Techniques 377
21. Monastic “Psychoanalysis”, Counseling, and Therapy 409
22. Techniques of Contemporary Free Brotherhoods 441
Part V – Tragedy and Transcendence of Tribal Altruism
23. From Tribal Egoism to Universal Altruism 459
Notes 491
Index of Names 537
Index of Subjects 547
Endorsements and Reviews
Reviews
Christian Science Monitor, The
Sorokin’s work was controversial and the center did not survive, but his major work, The Ways and Power of Love (recently republished by Templeton Press), set out a thorough analysis on which to base a scientific investigation. He "understood human love as a partial reflection of, and…a participation in, divine love," says Post, in a new introduction.
Choice
The work’s breadth should interest many working on various discipline-specific issues related to love and altruism, although it may alienate some who have a difficult time mixing their metaphysics and sociology. Recommended for all levels.
Theology Digest—St. Louis, MO
Pitirim Sorokin’s study of love was published in 1954, when he was leading the Harvard Research Center in Creative Altruism. He treats love; creative personality; ways of altruistic growth; techniques of altruistic transformation, such as yoga and monasticism; and "From Tribal Egoism to Universal Altruism."
Scientific and Medical Network, The—Gloucestershire, United Kingdom
This is without doubt one of the greatest books written in the 20th century, and one that will be admired more in a hundred years. . . . Even a long review can do scant justice to the depth and range of this great and inspiring book that speaks to the fundamental needs of our time. I can only urge readers to study it for themselves and support its vision in their own lives as I do in mine.
Quest, The
According to the introduction of this book, first published in 1954, the academic community has given little attention to the study of altruistic love, leaving it to the realm of religion. Extensive studies have been done on hate, anger, and other negative emotions but not on love. That is still true today.
Pitirim A. Sorokin (1889-1968), who was founding chairman of the sociology Department at Harvard University and head of the Harvard Research Center in Creative Altruism, observes, "Hate begets hate, violence engenders violence, hypocrisy is answered by hypocrisy, war generates war, love generates love" (xi). He contends that governments could make greater strides in world peace and harmony if they devoted attention to the creation of altruistic love instead of the development of weapons. He also maintains that, with proper research and testing, techniques can be developed to consciously generate love.
In his study, he begins with personal, family, and tribal love. He studies the mental structure of the individual as it relates to creativity through the supraconscious for the realization of altruistic love. He explores love as exemplified by saints, mystics, and altruists such as Gandhi and Albert Schweitzer. He then studies the various techniques used by mystics and monastic communities to promote altruistic love. His search is for a means to transcend individual and tribal egos through systematic effort for the moral ennoblement of humanity.
Translations
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