AHP Web Sights on Romantic Relationships

Every person experiencing as he does his own solitariness and aloneness,
longs for union with another. He yearns to participate in a relationship
greater than himself. Normally he strives to overcome his aloneness
through some form of love.

— Rollo May
(from “Love and the Demonic” in Love and Will)
“Pioneers of Humanistic-Existential Psychology”
www.psy.dmu.ac.uk/drhiles/HPpioneers.htm

— Bruce Wochholz

BRUCE WOCHHOLZ

DECEMBER 2004/JANUARY 2005

Relationships is the theme of this issue of the AHP Perspective and provides focus for this edition of Web Sights.

The Center for the Study of the Great Ideas provides a syntopical guide to The Great Books and is overseen by Max Weismann, cofounder with Mortimer Adler. The site provides unsurpassed access to the full range of Western thought, with an excellent set of links that includes An Index to Online Great Books in English Translation. The following descriptions are from the 102 Great Ideas, derived from the “Syntopicon” (Vols. 1 & 2 of The Great Books), that as well provides an excellent list of “additional readings” for each of the ideas. Like quality and quantity, relation is generally recognized as a basic term or category. But its meaning, like theirs, cannot be defined. and A very special mode of love originated in the Middle Ages, and has an heir in the romantic love so characteristic of modern times. Relation and Love are two recurring great ideas in these links.

Types of Interpersonal Relationships are among the resources available on the Interpersonal Web, sponsored by Northern Virginia Community College, drawn from philosophy, literary studies, media criticism, ethics, psychology, sociology, cultural studies, anthropology, and linguistics. There are five stages to all relationships, according to the Couple’s Journey : Romance, Power Struggle, Stability, Commitment, Co-creation. Romantic relationships and emotional intelligence are explored at eqi. org/romance.htm, emphasizing empathy and caring.

David Feinstein’s and Stanley Krippner’s Personal Mythology is reviewed at the Spiritwatch site and refers to one of Joseph Campbell’s designations of the functions of myth, that of the compassionate mode of mythology, which prompts empathy. The work of Campbell is well represented on a variety of sites that include his work related to romantic love and its sources in the Middle Ages. A Learning Channel site, provides a description of Campbell’s Transformations of Myth Through Time that concludes with explorations of “Where There Was No Path: Arthurian Legends and the Western Way” with Campbell tracing the wide-ranging influence of the Arthurian legends and the tensions between honor and love. And “A Noble Heart: The Courtly Love of Tristan and Iseult” , from the tales of troubadours and courtly love, explores the meaning and symbology of the many tests and trials. These themes are amplified in Campbell’s treatment of “The Mythology of Love” in Myths to Live By.

All things are locked together in a system of internal relatonships—the finite parts with one another through the infinite whole which determines each to be what it is, in itself and in relation to all others. — Spinoza “Relations” The Great Ideas

The Center for Story and Symbol site offers continuing education seminars and workshops on the psychology of fairy tales, mythic stories, creativity, movies as mythic imagination, and writing in therapy. Additional Campbell-related information and a superb set of links can be found at the Mythos and Logos site which includes information on the Campbell-edited works of his mentor Heinrich Zimmer. Zimmer’s profound influence is described by Campbell in the archives of the Parabola site “The Old Ones” (Vol. 5:1 Spring 1980 issue) “Elders and Guides: A Conversation with Joseph Campbell—Remembering Heinrich Zimmer.”

The well-designed Myths Dreams and Symbols site includes information on another colleague of Zimmer, Carl Jung, who also profoundly influenced Campbell. Joseph L. Henderson’s contribution to Jung’s final work Man and his Symbols, is a layman’s description of symbology as it relates to the unconscious. These symbols are so ancient that modern man cannot directly understand or assimilate them, yet we retain this symbol-making capacity.

It is precisely these capacities that are well reflected in the beautifully designed Age of Mythology site. Jung’s influence can also be seen in the following sites’ analyses of Wagner’s Ring Cycle, celebrating ideals of courtly or romantic love. Robert Donington’s analysis is found on the Putting the Pieces Together site as well as in Jean Shinoda Bolen’s Ring of Power. An especially useful source of descriptions of courtly love can be found, via the above mythos site, in Zimmer’s King and the Corpse which includes an informed analysis of the Arthurian romances, that includes perhaps one of the most famous, Sir Gawain and the Green Knight.

Love in Relationship is a good example of Rollo May’s insights regarding Krishnamurti; thoughts that pierce to the roots of our Western problems, and deeper insights into the meaning of personal freedom and mature love.

Bringing us full circle, the opening and closing quotations of this column from Rollo May’s Love and Will are referenced within the Pioneers of Humanistic-Existential Psychology site. This site also includes pioneers Jung and Eric Fromm, author of The Art of Loving, and explores both “The Disintegration of Love in Western Society” and “The Practice of Love,” where there is no “division of labor” between love for one’s own and love for strangers. Fromm’s The Art of Loving and many other books on this love relationship theme can be found at AHPWEB’s Humanistic Bookstore and ahpweb’s “New Pioneers” AHP Authors Page. More information on relationships can also be found on AHP Member links, including Crystal Links which includes a wealth of information on many of these topics (and 2 images above).

This is the mythos of care. It is a statement which says that whatever happens in the external world, human love and grief, pity and compassion are what matter. These emotions transcend even death. — Rollo May “The Meaning of Care” in Love and Will

AHP Members are encouraged to submit their web addresses to WebSights columnist Bruce Wochholz at bwochholz@mac.com for review. Sites should be primarily educational or informational, and relate to AHP’s interests, but member sites may emphasize services, books, workshops, tapes, or other commercial offerings.