Transcript [00:00] Love can't be unlimited. It's your [00:01] emotional energy, your time, your [00:03] attention, real limited resources of [00:05] yours. Claiming to love everyone, even [00:07] setting aside that it's impossible, [00:09] doesn't make one moral. In fact, it [00:11] suspends one's moral judgment and puts [00:13] one at risk. I have frequently heard the [00:15] claim that we're born to be loving [00:17] creatures. And there is an important [00:19] mistake in it. We are not born to be [00:21] loving creatures. We are born to be [00:22] rational ones. And doubt of rationality, [00:25] sincere, well-grounded and fruitful love [00:27] can emerge. Love is not a primary moral [00:30] duty. The so-called love that ignores [00:32] rational distinctions isn't a form of [00:34] virtue. By trying to love everyone [00:36] indiscriminately, one doesn't become a [00:38] highly moral being or just corrupts his [00:39] capacity to judge. And here is why. To [00:42] love is to value. Love is a profoundly [00:44] personal selfish currency. If you try to [00:47] love everyone equally, if you try to [00:48] love a tyrant the same way you love a [00:50] hero, or if you try to love a stranger [00:52] the same way you love your closest ones, [00:53] you are treating them as if they had the [00:55] same worth for your wellbeing. That [00:57] can't be true. And that can't make one [00:59] moral. It makes one moral and blind. [01:01] Love, like all values, operates on the [01:03] principle of exchange. Though we don't [01:05] often think in those terms, the logic is [01:07] the same. We are traders not just in [01:09] material goods, but in spirit. Love, [01:11] friendship, admiration are all the [01:13] emotional currency we trade with people [01:15] whose qualities and characters we value, [01:18] with people who make our lives better. [01:20] True love is not owed to anyone. It's an [01:22] honor and honor is a thing to be earned. [01:25] To thrive psychologically, we should [01:27] make clear rational distinctions and [01:28] reserve our love only for those who [01:31] measure up to it. Love isn't unlimited. [01:33] It's your emotional energy, your [01:34] attention, your time, your efforts, real [01:37] limited resources of yours. So guard [01:39] your love as one of your most sacred [01:41] currencies. Don't give your resources [01:43] away for
We weren't born to be loving creatures. We were born to be rational ones, and real, well-grounded love grows out of that. Trying to love everyone equally doesn't make one moral; it means one's giving up the ability to judge who deserves his love.
