Love, Friendship and Personality

Editorial

According to Erich Fromm, one of the founding fathers of Humanistic Psychology, love is a free and sovereign decision made by the human being; therefore, it cannot be imposed, bought or sold, but is given in exchange for nothing... or it is not love.

According to José Martí, «friendship is the crucible of life», because without it, just as without love, human existence becomes «death and snow».

However, friendship has no erotic component, and implies an encounter in the spirit. If that encounter, for whatever reason, does not occur, there is not - and cannot be - true friendship. Love influences the three great spheres in which personality is structured, defined by Humanistic Psychology as the dynamic and functional integration of the bio-psycho-socio-cultural and spiritual components in which it is configured.

These spheres are: the cognitive, the affective-spiritual and the conative, mediated by love, and I will explain— briefly—why. Knowledge is found in the natural environment and in books; if we do not love nature and reading, obviously the cognitive spectrum of the human being is reduced— considerably. The affective-spiritual sphere is the most sensitive of the personality, where the feelings and emotions that give color and vigor to life reside. The conative or executive sphere of action needs the impulse that only love can infuse into what we do, that is, what we put into practice or turn into actions. Do you now understand, dear listener, the intimate and close relationship that is established between love, friendship and personality?