Смысл любви

by Vladimir Sergeyevich Solovyov, Владимир Сергеевич Соловьев

В предлагаемом вниманию читателя произведении В. С. Соловьева, великого отечественного философа, публициста, поэта, религиозного мыслителя, рассматривается все многообразие проявлений великого человеческого чувства, раскрывается связь любви с поиском смысла жизни, полноценным формированием личности. Написанное изящным, изысканным стилем, необычайно глубокое по своему содержанию, это произведение поможет не только осмыслить, оценить чувство любви в классических произведениях прошлых эпох, но и разобраться в современных проблемах человеческих взаимоотношений.
Для широкого круга читателей.

Genres: Philosophy, Russia, Theology, Religion, Love, Nonfiction, Spirituality

64 pages, Paperback

First published January 1, 1894

About the author

Vladimir Sergeyevich Solovyov (Russian: Владимир Сергеевич Соловьёв) was a Russian philosopher, theologian, poet, pamphleteer and literary critic, who played a significant role in the development of Russian philosophy and poetry at the end of the 19th century and in the spiritual renaissance of the early 20th century.

Reviews

[Siv30 · Rating 4 out of 5]

לסקירה מפורטת בעברית, קישור לבלוג שלי -

https://sivi-the-avid-reader.com/משמע...

[Alex Strohschein · Rating 4 out of 5]

A short but complex book. I probably spent far too little time reflecting on Solovyov's thought, but this was still a rewarding read and would make a great book for group discussion.

[Jana Essa · Rating 3 out of 5]

كتاب بشكل عام جميل ومفيد
ما أشوفه فلسفي كثر ما هو علمي؛ بس هو الكاتب مزج بين فلسفته الشخصية مع علوم الحياة الفيزيائية والدينية وحتى البيئية
يحتاج تركيز عالي لاستيعاب المكتوب
أنا كقارئة ضعت في القراءة بسبب طرحه لفكره وتكرارها مع أكثر من تفسير وفرضية
بعد انتهائي منه ما أضمن فهمي الكامل له أشوف إنه كتاب احتاج لترتيب أكثر وتبسيط أو وضوح للأفكار المذكورة
يحمل معلومات وأفكار جميلة ونادرة بالنسبة لي وهذا شي استمتعت فيه على الأقل

[Daniel · Rating 5 out of 5]

When Solovyov talks about love, he manages to describe the structure of the world, universe's being, human being, the meaning of existence, to criticize Freud, and it's still about love. Just Great.

[Kevin · Rating 5 out of 5]

A sublime expression of the profundity of what is ordinarily called "romantic" love. Only such seriousness can make sense of that phenomenon used as the ultimate image of love in the Song of Songs. I wholeheartedly recommend this to anyone.

Here are some extracts:

The meaning of human love, speaking generally, is the justification and salvation of individuality through the sacrifice of egoism. On this general basis we can also complete our particular task: to explain the meaning of sexual love. For good reason sexual relations are not merely termed love, but are also generally acknowledged to represent love par excellence, being the type and ideal of all other kinds of love (cf. the Song of Songs and the Apocalypse). (chapter 2.3)

The task of love consists in justifying in deed that meaning of love which at first is given only in feeling. It demands such a union of two given finite natures as would create out of them one absolute ideal personality. (chapter 3.1)

True spiritual love is not a feeble imitation and anticipation of death, but a triumph over death, not a separation of the immortal from the mortal, of the eternal from the temporal, but a transfiguration of the mortal into the immortal, the acceptance of the temporal into the eternal. False spirituality is a denial of the flesh; true spirituality is the regeneration of the flesh, its salvation, its resurrection from the dead. (chapter 4.4)

By steadfast, believing and insightful love, however, we know that this idea is not an arbitrary fiction of our own, but that it expresses the truth of the object, only a truth as yet not realized in the sphere of external, real phenomena. (chapter 4.6)

This living ideal of the Divine love, antecedent to our love, contains in itself the secret of the idealization of our love. In it the idealization of the lower being exists together with an incipient realization of the higher, and in this is the truth of love's intense emotion. Complete realization, the transformation of the individual feminine being into the ray of the eternal Divine femininity, inseparable from its resplendent source, will be a real, not merely subjective but also objective, reunion of the individual human being with God, the restoration in him of the living and immortal Divine image. (chapter 4.7)

This bond between the living human source (personal) and the unity-of-the-all idea incarnated in the social spiritual-physical organism, ought to be a living syzygetic relation. It ought not to be subjected to its communal sphere or to dominate it, but to be in loving reciprocity with it, to serve as its active fertilizing source of motion and to find in it the fulness of life's conditions and possibilities—such is the relation of the true human individuality, not only to its immediate social environment and to its nation, but also to the whole of humanity. (chapter 5.4)

[Kristina · Rating 5 out of 5]

U pravu je Solovjev. Mogu samo dodati kao zaključak i ujedno sažetak cjele knjige da je smisao ljubavi isto toliko individualan koliko i univerzalan.

[Ben Koops · Rating 4 out of 5]

Klein maar fijn esoterisch pareltje wat je volgens mij het beste kunt plaatsen in de gnostische traditie. Aan de ene kant is het een soort ontmoeting van Oost en West, maar het is zeker geen orthodox gedachtegoed. Een soort liefdesliedje aan het universum of de aarde. Solovjov hield er interessante ideeën op na, wellicht ook gedeeltelijk in navolging van Hegel. Het hogere doel wat de liefde volgens hem dient, er komt wat natuurkunde en darwinisme bij kijken, is de vergeestelijking van de materie. Veel vakterminologie, maar het ideale of de hogere creatieve macht van de liefde is scheppend (nieuwe mens). Natuurlijk wel alleen tussen man en vrouw dan. De liefde bevrijdt ons van egoïsme, het overwint de individualiteit. Het gaat dus over het realiseren van het goddelijke beeld in de mens, en dit gebeurt door ware liefde. Voor pure voortplanting is in principe geen liefde vereist. Dat doen dieren ook. Het hoogste principe van de liefde is voor Solovjov vereniging met God. Waarbij de mannelijke en vrouwelijke principes ook verenigd moeten worden. Zie die vereniging eerder als symbiose, een wederkerigheid.

''True life is to live in another as in oneself''.

In het laatste hoofdstuk wordt het echt behoorlijk esoterisch als het gaat over een soort van eenwording met de kosmos. Een liefdevolle relatie met de natuur wordt vooropgesteld, de scheppende kracht in de natuur is dezelfde als de creativiteit in de mens. Vrij ingewikkeld wordt het als hij het heeft over het eeuwig vrouwelijke principe, wat hij niet echt verduidelijkt. Solovjov haalt in dit verband ook de Bijbel aan die vaak naar de mensheid refereert als zijnde de bruid van Christus. Het wordt bijna een soort mysticisme als hij het daarna heeft over een syzygystische eenheid. Dat wil zeggen een soort samenvallen, waarvan het eindproces een wereldwijde eenwording is. Natuurlijk is dit niet zo simpel, en dit ziet Solovjov ook in. We zijn afgesloten, materieel en geïsoleerd. Maar elk individueel leven bevat een klein vonkje van het alles ( het universum zullen we maar zeggen). En in dit inzicht valt Solovjov weer volledig samen met wat de moderne natuurkunde hierover zegt. Helaas ziet hij wel een soort Hegeliaanse historische perfectie die langzaam bereikt wordt in de geschiedenis, dat wil zeggen in het bereiken van de eenwording.

''In sexual love, truly understood and truly realized, this Divine essence receives the means for its definitive, ultimate incarnation in the life of a human''

Het concept van het vrouwelijke als iets verheffends komt trouwens wel vaker terug in de Russische literatuur. Zie bijvoorbeeld Olga in Oblomov, die de geïdealiseerde liefde bereikt met Stoltz. Solovjov had het ook vaker over Sophia, een soort vrouwe Wijsheid als bij Boethius die hem visioenen verschafte. In Spreuken komt die figuur van de Wijsheid ook terug trouwens.
Vreemd genoeg sloot het voor mij aardig aan bij Lucretius, hij wordt zelfs een keer aangehaald!

[modhi m · Rating 4 out of 5]

حكاية الحب والوجود بين التماهي والمركزية، تجربة أولى لسولوفيوف ولن تكون الأخيرة بإذن الله ..
كتاب قصير إنما بليغ يحتاج لتركيز عالٍ وحضور متّقد بالأسئلة والنظر في عمق التفاصيل، فلسفة الحب بوصفه طريق نحو تحرير الإنسان من الأنانية نحو الفرادنية التي تأخذ بيده نحو الوجود عن طريق الخيال والإيمان هي نظرة لافتة ووجهة نظر عميقة ومؤثرة. لكن سولوفيوف ترك اختياره للمصطلح الواصِف للحب، وسيلة الإيمان لتحقيق وجوده ونتاج هذه النظرة خارج أُطر ما تم شرحه هنا كذلك كنت أتمنى أن أقرأ أكثر عن تأثره بالكبالا رغم كثرة استشهاداته الإنجيلية.


وأخيراً فيما لو رأى الهشاشة اللغوية، والانغماس الأنانية في اللذة لإنسان العصر الحديث أكان ليتراجع عن نظرية التحسن بفضل الإنجاب وفقا لاحتمالات المستقبلة التي تحل محل معطيات الماضي بين البشر؟


كتاب مثري رائع لا أستطيع التوقف عن الحديث عنه وهو من أفضل ما قرأت ولمن يريد مواساة عن مفهوم الحب ومعناه عن الحلم وتبعاته فليقرأ هذا الكتاب الزاخر.

[Zachary Mays · Rating 4 out of 5]

Not without its merits or its beautiful passages, but in the main somewhat dull.

[Mahmoud Ghoz · Rating 4 out of 5]

كتاب فلسفي رائع يحكي في الكاتب عن معني الحب من وجهة نظره وارتباط الحب بالجنس وتنوع الحب ومنظور الفردانية داخل العلاقة
انصح به بشدة

[Jon Adler · Rating 4 out of 5]

It was interesting to read a book like this by a Russian author. I know that Russia's contributions to Esoteric Christian thought are substantial, but I've never read any such author directly. With the caveat that my knowledge of all of these authors is based on translations of their works, it reminded me of something by Rudolf Steiner, or Valentin Tomberg - especially if the latter truncated the amount of references to other authors.

an argument that stood out to me was about how romantic love as humans experience it differs significantly from the mating and procreative processes of animals. he made an interesting observation that mammals and birds seem to embody different composite elements of the romantic process in the animal kingdom, and that what humans experience envelops both. i am still getting used to Christian thinkers who are convinced of the veracity of the evolutionary process, and I appreciated that his arguments took evolution for granted in the context of humanity's development.

the subsequent chapters became much more abstract, but i appreciated his reasoning. his commentary on the nature of Sophia - personified wisdom - was interesting; i knew that was coming, but it flowed naturally in terms of pacing.

the topic of romance is not really pertinent to my day-to-day existence at the time i read this book, but i am glad i have a copy and imagine it will carry more weight when i revisit it at a later chapter of life.

[John · Rating 4 out of 5]

I must say, this is sometimes very difficult to read and other times full of gems and good, deep nuggets. I am happy I read "Sex at Dawn" before, as I right away found the perfect description of the argument against that book inside here, written over 100 years prior. It is difficult to place this book; I surely need a reread if I were to delve deeper into the issue of love - and here - sexual love. I think today's theology has things to learn from it still.

[Levi Cromwell]

Thank you to exam duty for allowing me to catch up on my reading.

I'm gonna reread this sometime, I didn't follow one hundred percent of his argument all the way through the text. My main take away is that Solovyov was probably a freak in the sheets.

[Vladdan Oc · Rating 4 out of 5]

Una muy buena introducción a la manera de concebir el mundo fuera de la estructura occidental.

[Ivan Biočić · Rating 3 out of 5]

Nisam je previše razumio. Dijelovi koje sam razumio bili su mi odlični. Treba čitati jako sporo, paragraf po paragraf.

[E. · Rating 2 out of 5]

The first few chapters were surprising in that they didn't read like a book from the nineteenth century. But the later chapters I just didn't find engaging.

[Arina · Rating 3 out of 5]

Затрагивает много интересных тем, но перепрыгивает с темы на тему быстро, какой-то интеллектуальный паркур

[pluto (elif) · Rating 3 out of 5]

3,25*

[Kokoro · Rating 3 out of 5]

Very interesting.

[Janet · Rating 2 out of 5]

This man affected many of the Russian Symbolists--contemporary of Doestoyevsky and part of his circle. The same kind of gnostic mystical vision that trembles in Doestoyevsky's work--and was the underpinning of poets like Blok.
****
Man as the crown of creation shtick sticks in my craw. Wish he'd get on with it.
****
If it doesn't get better in like ten pages, I'm out.
****
Okay, that's it. This is one of those books I want someone else to read for me and tell me what it's about. I know there's intriguing stuff here (hence the two stars), but I can't breathe for holding my nose through all this notion that man is evolution's end-point, that all of creation was only a precursor for man. Can't get to whatever it is he has of such value to say. It's not a writer's fault for being a creature of his time, and it's not fair for me to overlay my modern relativism and new understanding of ecology on this guy from the 1870's. But. I can't. Read. It.

[Ana Martins · Rating 2 out of 5]

Well this is a book that must be read given the time, society and beliefs (before ever existing sociobiology, non-heterosexual relations were not allowed, women served man and that was their only purpose, among other ideas). It is a trenchant and against almost all today we believe it is true. At the same time, it is humbling to think that our own thought-forms might be equally provincial and outdated.

According this author, love between men and women (and this the only natural sexual love, being only between bodies that complete each other) has a component of mystical transfiguration of the world, leading the man out of its own egoism and into a higher state.

I wonder what he would think if he came into this century.

[Drew · Rating 3 out of 5]

"True love is hat which not only affirms in subjective feeling the absolute significance of human individuality in another and in oneself, but also justifies this absolute significance in reality, really rescues us from the inevitability of death and fills out our life with an absolute content."