There is something essentially ineffable and powerful in the reality that the terms agape, compassion, unconditional love, and self-giving love try to describe. Altruism is nested within them, but these terms, which might be summarized as compassionate love, capture an investment of self deeper than the practical. Key Features - Free choice for the other, within the limits of one's own freedom. Compassion is a manifestation of love. And love, whatever else it may be, is something that involves choices.
Love is the one true source of freedom in the midst of the suffering human finitude entails.
Choosing between options is a condition of freedom in finitude. Cognitive understanding of the situation. This includes evaluations of contexts and meaning in religious and nonreligious frameworks. Ethical judgments and issues of justice can enter in here, as can knowledge of the details of culture and individual differences. To value the other at a fundamental level is essential.