The text highlights the fundamental difference between desire and love. Desire is centripetal, self-focused, self-referential, and narcissistic, resulting in fleeting and inconsistent pleasure. Love, on the other hand, is centrifugal; it involves giving, thinking of others before oneself, and generates a solid sense of fulfilment and happiness. Desire, as Recalcati asserts, has a nihilistic quality that drives us from one object to another without lasting satisfaction.