Is love best when it is fresh? For many, the answer is a resounding “yes.” The intense experiences that characterize new love are impossible to replicate, leading to wistful reflection and even a repeated pursuit of such ecstatic beginnings. Aaron Ben-Ze’ev takes these experiences seriously, but he’s also here to remind us of the benefits of profound love—an emotion that can only develop with time. In The Arc of Love, he provides an in-depth, philosophical account of the experiences that arise in early, intense love—sexual passion, novelty, change—as well as the benefits of cultivating long-term, profound love—stability, development, calmness. Ben-Ze’ev analyzes the core of emotions many experience in early love and the challenges they encounter, and he offers pointers for weathering these challenges. Deploying the rigorous analysis of a philosopher, but writing clearly and in an often humorous style with an eye to lived experience, he takes on topics like compromise, commitment, polyamory, choosing a partner, online dating, and when to say “I love you.” Ultimately, Ben-Ze’ev assures us, while love is indeed best when fresh, if we tend to it carefully, it can become more delicious and nourishing even as time marches on.

"This anthology gathers together more than eighty contemporary lesbian poets - women, both young and old, of African, Asian, European, Latina, Native, and South Seas heritage. Well-known poets such as Gloria Anzaldua, Chrystos, Judy Grahn, Marilyn Hacker, Audre Lorde, Pat Parker, Adrienne Rich, and Muriel Rukeyser, and a new generation of poets such as Mi Ok Song Bruining, Ana Bantigue Fajardo, Melinda Goodman, and Melanie Hope, are featured in this energizing gift of imagination and heart, vision and community. Coss, a writer, activist, and psychotherapist with twenty years' experience working with individuals and couples, has selected poems that tell the story of love with eloquence, humor, grace, and passion." "The poetry collected here is a generous sustaining resource for understanding attractions, loneliness, lust, hate, sexual play, power games, monogamy, fantasy, commitment, the search for meaning and direction in our daily lives."--BOOK JACKET.Title Summary field provided by Blackwell North America, Inc. All Rights Reserved

Is love best when it is fresh? For many, the answer is a resounding “yes.” The intense experiences that characterize new love are impossible to replicate, leading to wistful reflection and even a repeated pursuit of such ecstatic beginnings. Aaron Ben-Ze’ev takes these experiences seriously, but he’s also here to remind us of the benefits of profound love—an emotion that can only develop with time. In The Arc of Love, he provides an in-depth, philosophical account of the experiences that arise in early, intense love—sexual passion, novelty, change—as well as the benefits of cultivating long-term, profound love—stability, development, calmness. Ben-Ze’ev analyzes the core of emotions many experience in early love and the challenges they encounter, and he offers pointers for weathering these challenges. Deploying the rigorous analysis of a philosopher, but writing clearly and in an often humorous style with an eye to lived experience, he takes on topics like compromise, commitment, polyamory, choosing a partner, online dating, and when to say “I love you.” Ultimately, Ben-Ze’ev assures us, while love is indeed best when fresh, if we tend to it carefully, it can become more delicious and nourishing even as time marches on.

"A thoroughly modern love story with an old-fashioned heart." ––Vogue “Sure to satisfy fans of Taylor Jenkins Reid and Sally Rooney.” ––E! Online "Funny and modern, The Arc is like a rom-com’s cooler big sister." ––Real Simple Can you curate your soulmate? Thirty-five-year-old Ursula Byrne, VP of Strategic Audacity at a branding agency in Manhattan, is successful, witty, whip-smart, and single. She’s tried all the dating apps, and let’s just say: she’s underwhelmed by her options. You’d think that by now someone would have come up with something more bespoke; a way for users to be more tailored about who and what they want in a life partner––how hard could that be? Enter The Arc: a highly secretive, super-sophisticated matchmaking service that uses a complex series of emotional, psychological and physiological assessments to architect partnerships that will go the distance. The price tag is high, the promise ambitious––a level of lifelong compatibility that would otherwise be unattainable. In other words, The Arc will find your ideal mate. Ursula is paired with forty-two-year-old lawyer Rafael Banks. From moment one, this feels like the electric, lasting love they’ve each been seeking their whole adult lives. But as their relationship unfolds in unanticipated ways, the two begin to realize that true love is never a sure thing. And the arc of a relationship is never predictable...even when it's fully optimized.

The Arc of Spirituality invites readers on a journey through Western history, a journey that begins with the pioneering concepts of ancient Israelites, who understood spirituality communally and covenantally. Continuing biblically with wisdom and apocalyptic conceptions, The Arc of Spirituality examines Western Christian spirituality as it developed historically through twelve phases, culminating in the modern period with ethical, ecumenical, pluralist, and ecological expressions, and most recently, with postmodern secular alternatives. Having described his own journey in previous volumes, in this culminating book Vande Kappelle builds on earlier writings such as Response to the Other, The Second Journey, and The Church Alumni Association to tell the story of the Western world’s unfolding love affair with God. The narrative, while continuously inspiring, necessarily takes us through dark alleys and down deep rabbit holes in spirituality’s never-ending quest to know and experience the transcendence around us and within. The goal of spirituality is always God, and while God makes the journey interesting, it is never easy, for there are no clear steps to follow or learn. While spirituality is more caught than taught, at some point we discover it is more about unlearning than learning, enriched more by subtraction than by addition. The Arc of Spirituality is useful for individual or group study. Each chapter concludes with questions for discussion or reflection.