
What is a Narrative of Love?
We are living in troubled times, times of change, and complexity. On a daily basis, the majority of people around the globe seem to experience some form of disorientation, be it economic uncertainty, social divisiveness, political turmoil, media manipulation, or ecological crisis. This is an age of bewilderment because the current accounts or narratives that explain who we are and how we shall live have collapsed, and new ones are yet to emerge to guide our personal and collective lives.
This period of lingering perplexity is further exasperated by global crises, in particular, the ongoing humanitarian crisis, the continued refugee crisis, the ever-present climate crisis, and most recently the Covid-19 pandemic. These crises have laid bare continued structural dehumanisation and systemic instrumentalisation that have prevailed in our global socio-economic and political institutions.
Although this is a most challenging time for humanity, nevertheless, it has provided an important opportunity for us to pause, reflect, and take responsibility. Hence humanity is also on collective search for a new narrative that may take us out of the present perplexity and crises. This is because narrative, like cultural mythos, is fundamental to our common ways of being, and can articulate what we should value, what ought to constitute the good life, and how we can flourish together.
This Project believes that it is A Narrative of Love that has the true potential to take us out of our present impasse towards the good life for all.
Research
In this Project, we explore the ways in which Love has been expressed in the great philosophical and wisdom traditions of all time, including:
Love in the
western thought
Love in the
abrahamic faiths
Love in the
abrahamic faiths
Love in the teaching of
confucius, chinese sages, daoism and folk wisdom
Love in the
mystical traditions
Love in the
mystical traditions
It seeks to provide a foundation for taking Love seriously, acknowledging that Love is the energising force that animates all goodness and shapes all that is.