Los Cuatro Amores

"The Four Loves" summarizes four kinds of human love - affection, friendship, erotic love, and the love of God. This book's wise, gentle, candid reflections on the virtues and dangers of love draw on sources from Jane Austen to St. Augustine. His reflection on Augustine's teaching that one must love only God, because only God is eternal, and all earthly love will someday pass away: Who could conceivably begin to love God on such a prudential ground - because the security (so to speak) is better? Who could even include it among the grounds for loving? Would you choose a wife or a Friend - if it comes to that, would you choose a dog - in this spirit? One must be outside the world of love, of all loves, before one thus calculates.