Unlimited Love: Altruism, Compassion, and Service

I learned a lot from this book, since it covers a diverse selection of academic and scientific research. There were a few typographical errors, but I realize that's nitpicking. It made me very hopeful about how I can improve my own life. I highly recommend it for anyone; no matter what your interest or beliefs, there's likely to be something here for you.

This is the unofficial motto of the Institute of Research on Unlimited Love, headed by Stephen Post. "Unlimited Love" is not a self-help book; those who look for snappy slogans and quick solutions should look elsewhere. The book is a collection of empirically based, reasoned arguments for unselfish or, "Unlimited Love".Almost 50 years ago at Harvard University, Sociologist Pitirim Sorokin started some of the first serious research into altruism and the phenomenon of Love as a force capable of shaping human events throughout history. While the force of hate has never suffered from lack of serious study, "Unlimited Love" has never been subject to much scientific scrutiny. Post picked up where Sorokin left off, investigating the mysteries of unselfish, altruistic love. In his book, Post devotes an entire chapter to the work of Sorokin.Sorokin arrived at the study of love towards the end of his career. He is best known for the monumental work, "Social & Cultural Dynamics." Here, Sorokin puts forward a philosophy of history unlike those of Toynbee and Spengler. To Sorokin, the movement of culture is a cyclic flux governed by its dominant cultural mentality. He differs sharply with those who claim that mankind is on an upward trajectory towards terrestrial perfection. He notes that modern-day Western culture, despite its unparalleled wealth and monumental achievements in technology, medicine and government, is nonetheless, statistically more barbarous, less compassionate and generally less contented than cultures of the past. Despite its best efforts, mankind cannot end its suffering. Sorokin sought to determine the societies throughout history that were best equipped to handle the hardships inherent in existence. Here, his argument closely follows that of Henry Adams; analyzing the energies that mold unity within a society, the Middle Ages, roughly the ninth, tenth and eleventh centuries, would undoubtedly represent the crown and glory of Western Civilization. The form of the energy was not perfect, (a gratuitous love of the Virgin at Chartres); likewise, neither was society perfect. The key was that cultural authority was based not so much on law or power, but on "ontologically self-justifying, ideals that have a compelling inner power of persuasion, spiritual ideals that touch the mind's desire to transcend itself." Centuries washed away this societal unity, but the ideals did not completely vanish. Throughout history we witness individuals who engage in extraordinary acts of goodwill in defiance of all reason. These individuals seem to find a joy impervious to all external trials and toils. There is much speculation that unselfish love, as a force, emanates from outside of the Self, and is received through some metaphysical part of the mind. In The Ways & Power of Love, Sorokin posed the theory of the human "supraconsciousness," (somewhere above the unconscious and conscious) as the pathway to the divine and source of inspir