‘Love is a combination of six ingredients’: bell hooks

One of America’s greatest political and social critiques, feminist thinker and author bell hooks died on December 16 at the age of 69. Her writing pushed feminism to include the unique experiences of Black and working class women in a largely white worldview.

In an interaction with Buddhist teacher Sharon Salzberg, hooks discussed the subject matter of Salzberg’s book Real Love: The Mindful Connection — love.

In the video, hooks started off by asking “where do we begin to learn what love is? How to love?” as she continued to praise the book, calling it a handy book to learn about love.

hooks then went on to share an anecdote to elaborate on her understanding of love: “I remember trying to tell my young lover at the time who seemed not to comprehend love…. I wrote on a little postcard ‘you know, love is a combination of six ingredients: care, commitment, knowledge, responsibility, respect, and trust, and so if you don’t know what you’re doing, just pull out that little card and ask yourself ‘in what way does my action that I’m taking reflect these traits, these characteristics, these values’, if you will’.”