# Great Books Club #8 - Hannah Arendt on Love and Forgiveness

*Sun, 10/1, 11amPT – featuring @tldr, @grace, @ted, @aaina, @timdaub, @seanhart and more*

By [@tldr](https://paragraph.com/@tldr) · 2023-09-28

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> Sunday 10/1, 11amPT / 2pmET –> [unlonely.app/channels/tldr](http://unlonely.app/channels/tldr)

Download passage
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[![](https://storage.googleapis.com/papyrus_images/fef102ad5587dd6a89a17829ad00be19.jpg)](https://drive.google.com/file/d/1PUujGsCzLWWHWOLlP6bxFzo4-O0i_r4g/view?usp=sharing)

> [Text](https://drive.google.com/file/d/1PUujGsCzLWWHWOLlP6bxFzo4-O0i_r4g/view?usp=sharing) (12 pages)

Preview of passage
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> _“For love, although it is one of the rarest occurrences in human lives, indeed possesses an unequaled power of self-revelation and an unequaled clarity of vision for the disclosure of_ **who**_, precisely because it is unconcerned to the point of total unworldliness with_ **what** _the loved person may be, with his qualities and shortcomings no less than with his achievements, failings, and transgressions. Love, by reason of its passion, destroys the in-between which relates us to and separates us from others." – Hannah Arendt, The Human Condition_
> 
> Hannah Arendt was unique among philosophers in placing the active life (_vita activa_) above the contemplative life (_vita contemplativa_) when it comes to human fulfillment. But the nature of action is also problematic: specifically in that it is both irreversible and unpredictable. In this week's passage, Arendt describes how forgiveness and love (embodied by Jesus of Nazareth) relate to the problems and possibilities of action.
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> Why is it essential to forgive? Is everything forgivable? Is it primarily love that enables forgiveness possible? Is love compatible with the active life? –– We will explore this and more on Sunday.

Learn more
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> To read about the Great Books Stream series as a whole, visit the [**introductory note**](https://paragraph.xyz/@tldr/intro-gbs).

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*Originally published on [@tldr](https://paragraph.com/@tldr/arendt-on-love)*