Love's Journey: The Season's and Stages of a Relationship

This is a truly great book.....so great that it is amazing it is not a bestseller. Especially, since Gurian's other extremely popular books about the psychological development of male adolescents are based at heart on the same model he uses in this book to chart the journey of a love relationship between two people.In short, Gurian presents a model of love as a journey through 4 seasons (likened to the climatic seasons), going from dependence to independence to interdependence. Each stage is marked at it's heart by a crisis and it is the successful negotiation of each such crisis that takes the relationship into the next stage which then presents it's own challenges.This model dramatically expands the understanding of what happens in long-term relationship, truly bringing to life the truth behind cliches such as every test is a challenge. One feels intensely for the entire journey and experiences great hope tinged with just the right amount of trepidation at what lies ahead on the path.Gurian's rendition of every season begins with a story, some picked from different world traditions and some crafted from diverse sources. These myths are then explored on the basis of the model, giving an almost dream-like quality to the entire book. Gurian's writing is inspired, spiritual even and brings out clearly the sacred nature of a two-partner relationship.This book deepens our vision of long-term relationship like no other.