“By love I do not mean natural tenderness, which is in people according to their constitution, but I see it as a larger principle of the soul, founded in reason and spiritual understanding, which makes us kind and gentle to all our fellow creatures as creations of God” (ODAT, 22 April)
The love I have been taught in recovery is this:
Wishing others well and acting in their benefit.
It is quite different from personal affection, a personal bond, liking, approving, or recognising a person’s particular value in the world or, worse, to me.
It’s indifferent and neither diminished nor magnified in anyone’s case.
It is thus the opposite of attachment.