The difference between wanting and loving explained by The Little Prince

The Little Prince teaches us, among other things, what the difference is between wanting and loving. Below, we detail it.

Loving and loving are both wonderful feelings but, without a doubt, different. What is the difference? He teaches us The little Princebased on the idea that we all (or almost all) have a firm and intangible purpose in our lives: to love someone with all our strength.

We all want to love and be loved because we know that this leads us to happiness. AND We are not wrong to believe that attachment is essential to navigate our world.

However, for various reasons, we end up confusing wanting with loving and vice versa. As a result of this confusion We fill our emotional backpack with false “I love you” and empty “I love you.”

The emotional wisdom contained in the dialogues in The Little Prince

A wonderful literary recreation based on The little Prince Antoine de Saint-Exupéry offers us a powerful lesson on this question.. Let us read this passage carefully with the aim of shedding light on this powerful emotional reality that affects almost all of us at one time or another in our lives.

“—I love you,” said the Little Prince.
“I love you too,” answered the rose.
“But it’s not the same,” he responded, and then continued, “To want is to take possession of something, someone.” It is looking for in others that which fulfills personal expectations of affection, of company. Wanting is making ours what does not belong to us, it is taking ownership or desiring something to complete us, because at some point we recognize ourselves as lacking.“

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Wanting is waiting, it is getting attached to things and people based on our needs. So, when we don’t have reciprocity there is suffering. When the desired “good” does not correspond to us, we feel frustrated and disappointed.

If I love someone, I have expectations, I expect something. If the other person doesn’t give me what I expect, I suffer.. The problem is that there is a greater probability that the other person has other motivations, since we are all very different. Each human being is a universe.

To love is to wish the best for the other, even when they have very different motivations. To love is to allow you to be happy, even when your path is different from mine. It is a selfless feeling that is born in giving oneself, it is giving oneself completely from the heart. For this reason, love will never be a cause of suffering.

When a person says that they have suffered for love, in reality they have suffered for loving, not for loving. You suffer from attachments. If you really love each other, you cannot suffer, because you have expected nothing from the other.. When we love we give ourselves without asking for anything in return, for the simple and pure pleasure of giving. But it is also true that this surrender, this selfless giving, only occurs in knowledge.

The meaning of love

We can only love what we know, because loving involves jumping into the void, trusting your life and soul. And the soul is not compensated. And knowing yourself is precisely knowing about yourself, your joys, your peace, but also your anger, your struggles, your mistake. Because love transcends anger, fight, error and is not only for moments of joy.

Love is the complete confidence that whatever happens you will be there, not because you owe me anything, not with selfish possession, but to be, in silent company. It’s knowing that the weather doesn’t change you, nor the storms, nor my winters.

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To love is to give you a place in my heart so that you can stay as a partner, father, mother, brother, son, friend and knowing that in yours there is a place for me. Giving love does not exhaust love, on the contrary, it increases it. The way to return so much love is to open your heart and let yourself be loved.

““Now I understand,” she answered after a long pause.
“It is better to live it,” the Little Prince advised him.“

Another beautiful explanation related to the difference we are talking about is the one that Buddhist teachings offer us.. They wisely state that if you love a flower, you pluck it to have it with you, but if you “love,” you water it every day and take care of it.

To love is to accept the other completely

Definitely, When we love someone we accept them as they are, we remain by your side and seek to leave traces of happiness and joy in every moment. Because to be pure and intense, feelings have to come from deep within.

That’s why, It is essential to do an inner work exercise and ask ourselves if we are doing it right.if we are managing our attachments and feelings well or, on the contrary, we are getting confused by the desire to put lasting and deep words to our relationships.