The word for today is LOVE. Why would I take on such a "preposterous" topic? I LOVE this blog more than any thing I can think of. And I was at risk of not writing in it at all.
When it comes to LOVE, I guess we do things we wouldn't otherwise do. I LOVE this blog so I will get up early, get out of bed, and sit down at the computer. (Actually, I got out of bed because the dogs I'm boarding were barking.) Really, I LOVE this blog, because I LOVE myself, it is part of my commitment to myself, to being open, to being heard.
So, if I work from this place, a place that combines heart and mind--LOVE is about being open, love is about being who you are, LOVE is about being able to share that with someone else. Sometimes, people will ask have I ever been in LOVE? I don't quite understand what they are asking. Have I ever been in a daze, have I ever been crazed, have I ever been in awe, have I ever felt passion? LOVE is selfless, love is blind? No, no.....I don't think it works that way.
I keep seeing the film clip of Barack Obama's victory speech on the election night 2008. He says, "Sasha and Malia, I LOVE you more than you can imagine." Then he tells them that they will get a dog. That works for me, because to me dogs equal LOVE, the unconditional kind.
But a couple of other things strike me as well. The look on his face after the statement. It is the purest, purest look that I can imagine. It is quite simply the truth. His expression is solid, a rock that his daughters can always hold onto. Yet I also notice that he chose the word imagine instead of know. He did not say, as my mind expected him to say, that he loves them more than they can know; instead he says he loves them more than they can imagine. Does this mean love is more of the imagination than of the mind or the rational intellect?
I will leave that question to your imagination. And I hope I will come back to the word, the idea, and the feeling of LOVE another day.
I think "I love you more than you can imagine" has a softer, gentler, positive ring to it...My mother told me often "I love you more than you will ever know"...it always made me feel slightly sad...like a failure on my part...the inability to understand, grasp or appreciate...it just has a negative tone to it...even though I knew my mother loved me dearly...I still would have preferred a simple "I love You" or "I love you more than you can imagine"...which to me just sounds endless...like trying to imagine where space ends...if indeed it does end.
ReplyDeleteWanda: Thank you as always for your comment. I like what you said about love, like imagination, being endless. Whenever someone said "I love you more than you can know" I always wondered why I couldn't know!
ReplyDeleteI wanted to write something about love and the universe, since in my belief system, the universe is the source and repository of love. It sounds a little new agey, but if love comes from the universe, then there is an abundance for all of us to experience, to feel, to be part of-- either by giving or receiving. I like that idea a lot. There is a whole blogosphere of love out there!
I think that the word "love" doesn't even need to be spoken for it to work its magic. I once read that love in the universe is like an eternal flame - it keeps lighting the flames of others and never diminishes. I've met people who carry that flame inside themselves.
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