A short definition of devotion by Roberto Assagioli from his book Psychosynthesis Typology:
“… devotion is often called love, but in reality it has a tone and a quality decidedly different from that of love, a fact that justifies and even requires the use of different terms to describe it. Devotion can be considered as a form of love, but it has a specific dynamic and aggressive quality. It implies a “reaching out” towards an aspiration. It presupposes a feeling of admiration that can turn into veneration. But devotion, apart from its striving towards the heights, often presents at the same time an opposite movement of descent – that is, the impulse to materialise the ideal. If this ideal is a person, devotion to him takes the form of a compulsive necessity to transform oneself into his image, to become an exponent, voice or replica of this ideal in the world. In the Middle Ages, for instance, many spiritually- inclined people were humbly and courageously dedicated to “the imitation of Christ.”
See also desire
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