Love as God

Every human love, at its height, has a tendency to claim for itself a divine authority. Its voice tends to sound as if it were the will of God Himself. It tells us not to count the cost, it demands of us a total commitment, it attempts to over-ride all other claims and insinuates that any action which I sincerely done “for love’s sake” is thereby lawful and even meritorious. That erotic love and love of one’s country may tus attempt to “become gods” is generally recognized. But family affection may do the same. So, in a different way, may friendship.

CS Lewis
The Four Loves

A Delighted Pre-Occupation

There may be those who have first felt mere sexual appetite for a woman and then gone on at a later stage to “fall in love with her”. But I doubt if this is at all common. Very often what comes first (with true love) is simply a delighted pre-occupation with her in totality. A man in this state really hasn’t leisure to think of sex. He is too busy thinking of a person. The fact that she is a woman is far less important than the fact that she is herself.

CS Lewis
The Four Loves

The Little Things

Real love motivates the lover to naturally pay attention to little behaviors in the beloved, noticing patterns that no one else does. It can leave the beloved feeling vulnerable.. and yet truly secure and loved.

Stephen Goforth

Parenting Advice

The billion-dollar industry of quote-unquote educational toys that are supposed to make your baby smarter is a boondoggle. There's no evidence that any of those things make a difference. Children are learning the way that other people's minds work, which is much more important to learn than even letters and numbers. I'm afraid the parenting advice to come out of developmental psychology is very boring: pay attention to your kids and love them.

Alison Gopnik in an interview with TIME magazine about her book The Philosophical Baby