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About this quote

What does it mean?
Tolstoy posits a universal spiritual force in everyone that seeks connection through love.
In plain terms
There is a divine spark in us that wants to connect with others through love.
What can you take from it?
Love is the natural mechanism for spiritual unity.

Where it applies

  • spiritual counseling
  • conflict resolution
  • personal reflection

Putting it to work

  • cultivate empathy
  • prioritize connection

Questions to consider

  • How do you express spiritual unity?
  • What holds you back from loving?

Another view

It ignores spiritual traditions that emphasize solitude over unity.

More from Leo Tolstoy

  1. ...the reason lies in the lack of a reasonable religious teaching which, by explaining the meaning of life would supply a supreme law for the guidance of condu…

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  2. The recognition that love represents the highest morality was nowhere denied or contradicted, but this truth was so interwoven everywhere with all kinds of fal…

    Permalink to quote #83
  3. ...people, highly gifted both physically and mentally, find themselves in the power of a small group of people quite alien to them in thought, and immeasurably…

    Permalink to quote #80

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