A wise man once said that our hearts are like stones, and our good deeds towards each other are like waters that fall right at the center of those stones. Bit by bit, the waters carve a crater in one’s heart, into which an abundance of love can pour.
As we have said throughout this book, the desire to give is the source of all pleasure in life, and the desire to receive is what shapes that pleasure. Through the good we do for others, we create in them a desire to receive more pleasure from being loved.
Of course, we all want to be loved, but very few of us believe that it will ever happen. But if we decide collectively to give love to each other, even if we don’t actually feel it, we will rekindle in our fellow men and women the conviction that love is possible. And they will give it back, but for real, because this is what they will feel in their newly softened hearts.
All this may sound unscientific and irrational, but it works because it is in harmony with life’s most fundamental forces—the desire to give and the desire to receive. And since we can always use some extra help when exploring unfamiliar territory, there are several techniques that can increase our chances of success. The rest of the chapters in this book will provide a view of what life would be like in a balanced world.