Genuine Love

Here is a quote that I need to read again and again. It’s a great reminder and antidote to “teaching”, controlling, and all manner of codependency. I don’t want to be exceedingly common.

“A major characteristic of genuine love is that the distinction between oneself and the other is always maintained and preserved. The genuine lover always perceives the beloved as someone who has a totally separate identity. Moreover the genuine lover always respects and even encourages this separateness and the unique individuality of the beloved. Failure to perceive and respect this separateness is exceedingly common however and the cause of much suffering.”

                                                                                    --M. Scott Peck, MD