Research Results
Introduction and Background
Rigorous scientific methods in numerous disciplines ranging from neuroscience to psychology are typically applied to the analysis of negative behaviors and psychological conditions. These methods, however, can and should be equally applied to the creative capacities for love, compassion, and altruism. (See S.G. Post, L.G. Underwood, J.P. Schloss, W.B. Hurlbut, eds., Altruism and Altruistic Love: Science, Philosophy, & Religion in Dialogue. Oxford University Press, 2002 [www.amazon.com]; see also Pitirim A. Sorokin, The Ways and Power of Love: Types, Factors, and Techniques of Moral Transformation, reprinted from the 1954 original with a “Foreword” by Stephen G. Post. Templeton Foundation Press, 2002 [www.templetonpress.org])
Unlimited Love is a principle affirmed universally by great traditions and leaders: “We can do no great things – only small things with great love” (Mother Teresa); “Kind speech and forgiveness is better than alms followed by injury” (Qur’an); “You shall love the alien as yourself” (Leviticus); “Love cures people – both the ones who give it and the ones who receive it” (Dr. Karl Menninger); “God is love” (I John); “Sooner or later, all the peoples of the world will have to discover a way to live together in peace, and thereby transform this pending cosmic elegy into a creative psalm of brotherhood. If this is to be achieved, man must evolve for all human conflict a method which rejects revenge, aggression, and retaliation. The foundation of such a method is love” (Rev. Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr.)