Unlimited Love ─ Altruism, Compassion, and Service

What if we could prove that love heals mental illness and is vital to successful therapeutic outcomes in all areas of health care? What if we could prove that people who live more for others than for self have greater psychological well-being?

In Unlimited Love, Post examines the question of what we mean by "unlimited love"; his focus is not on "falling" into love, which is "altogether natural, easy, and delusional." Rather, he focuses on the difficult learned ascent that "begins with insight into the need for tolerance of ubiquitous imperfection, and matures into unselfish concern, gratitude, and compassion." He considers social scientific and evolutionary perspectives on human altruistic motivations, and he analyzes these perspectives in a wide interdisciplinary context at the interface of science, ethics, and religion.

In Unlimited Love, Stephen Post presents an argument for the creation of a new interdisciplinary field for the study of love and unlimited love, "engaging great minds and hoping to shape the human future away from endless acrimony, hatred, and violence."

Stephen G. Post is professor of preventive medicine, and director of the Center for Medical Humanities, Compassionate Care, and Bioethics at Stony Brook University of the State University of New York. He is recognized internationally for his work on the unselfish compassionate love at the interface of science, ethics, religious thought, and behavioral medicine. In addition, he is a recognized expert on the spiritual and ethical aspects of caring for persons with dementia. Post is the founding president of the Institute for Research on Unlimited Love, Altruism, Compassion, Service, which was founded in 2001 (www.unlimitedloveinstitute.com). The Institute facilitates research, writing, conferences, and courses at the interface of science, spirituality, health, and love for humanity.

Post has published over 130 articles in peer-reviewed journals such as Science, The International Journal of Behavioral Medicine, Annals of Internal Medicine, The Journal of Religion, The American Journal of Psychiatry, The Journal of the American Medical Association, and The Lancet. He has written seven scholarly books on love, and is also the editor of eight other books, most recently including Altruism & Health: Perspectives from Empirical Research, and Altruism and Altruistic Love: Science, Philosophy and Religion in Dialogue, both published by Oxford University Press. He is also editor-in-chief of the definitive, five-volume Encyclopedia of Bioethics. His most recent book, published with Broadway Books, is Why Good Things Happen to Good People: The Exciting New Science That Proves the Link Between Doing Good and Living a Longer, Happier, Healthier Life (with co-author Jill Neimark).