Religious dogma defines conditions for those that need conditions. — praxis
That's not what I meant by "letting go of hopes." There was no turning my back. My friend and I are better friends than we were before. Long ago she told me that love cannot include expectations or obligations. I understood what she meant, but it took me a long time to put it into practice. Lao Tzu said "hope is as hollow as fear." — T Clark
I still hoped for a friendship because I could see the potential in him and my feelings were honorable and real. — TimeLine
The concept makes no sense. Any attempt you make to define what unconditional love is will result in conditional criteria. "Unconditional" itself if a condition. For the love to be different from conditional love, the condition is that it must be unconditional.
And yet, people will argue tooth and nail that it is a real thing. One of the most common examples is that of a mother's love for her child, but the first condition is that the child must be hers.
I believe the reason for the popularity of this concept is that it is convenient. It is akin to "the devil made me do it". It is tempting to legitimize the removal of standards and conditions on the basis of love. This kind of reasoning is not based on real love, but rather emotional appeal.
I look forward to hearing what you all think. — John Days
Any attempt you make to define what unconditional love is will result in conditional criteria. — John Days
I think you are moving the idea to nearly mathematical levels. Unconditional in this context means regardless of behavior, regardless of accomplishments, regardless of how the mother, for example, is treated by the child or how the child feels about her, she will love him or her. I think that is meaningful and true in many cases.One of the most common examples is that of a mother's love for her child, but the first condition is that the child must be hers. — John Days
I think you are moving the idea to nearly mathematical levels. Unconditional in this context means regardless of behavior, regardless of accomplishments, regardless of how the mother, for example, is treated by the child or how the child feels about her, she will love him or her. I think that is meaningful and true in many cases. — Coben
Unconditional love is a social phrase. It's not a claim like some theologians have that God is omniscient. Or a mathematical idea of infinity. It's not like we found this term in the middle of some extremely tight logical analysis of Kant or something. We talking about people who manage to love their sons who are murderers, who turn them in to the police, but visit them in prison and never stop loving them. People who love their drug addict children who steam from them and snarl at them and sometimes never come back from this. It's not math, it may not be perfect in that way. We are using words to convey something that is extreme but not one of CAntor's categories.That's a lack of social constraints, but there are other constraints, and you can't completely ignore the other constraints, unless you declare a certain context that you wish to arbitrarily limit your scope to. But arbitrarily limiting your scope is just yet another constraint. — god must be atheist
One of the most common examples is that of a mother's love for her child, but the first condition is that the child must be hers.
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