Thoughts on Love and Loneliness

Search November 18 2009


What drives us always to seek out a match,

As if we were designed in pairs?

Some people, like the elements,

Stand proudly on their own.

Others appear driven

To link with what is same, yet other,

Like atoms looking for completion.

When the right vibrations come along, we’re drawn

Into their field – Finally complete.

You and I were bonded in this way.

Now, I seek again – again a solitary star,

Wandering to find its galaxy.



Reflection

It’s such a paradox of life that many of us spend most of our lives in a state of loneliness. I look around and see how often this is true, even for people who have experienced loving partnership. Essentially, despite our different group affiliations, we all are alone; even the presence of a dedicated life companion is transitory.

Our drive to partner is so strong that much of the time, we are willing to settle for someone who sort of fits, even if there are major gaps. Probably the biological imperative behind this drive is simply the species’ need to reproduce. And yet, there is enough evidence of after-death communications to make it seem likely, or at least plausible, that we also seek matches in a spiritual dimension, partners who can be our companions and our teachers on the path to enlightenment.

The ideal of monogamous marriage most likely stems from the youthful imperative to create a family. As an older person, I sense that there are probably a variety of ways in which people can affiliate lovingly and feel completed. However, physical reality successfully obscures spiritual knowledge. So it’s easy to feel as if I’m stumbling around in the dark, essentially alone, even if that is far from true.

Reflecting on this situation, the only solution that I have some sense will help is to find ways to give and to love others—those I know and those I don’t. Having a dear partner satisfies, I suspect, because we are constantly present with that person in a state of love. The extent to which we exercise our capacity to love outside of ourselves may well be the deciding factor in how lonely or how complete we feel.

If this is true, what I’m seeking is the opportunity to express love continuously, to one or to many. My life’s purpose is to increase the number and intensity of my opportunities to act from love. That certainly changes the traditional paradigm and redefines the life direction that will enhance my happiness. In this paradigm, the opportunity to greet and serve with love everyone I meet every day creates bliss.



In Love November 18 2009

You and I discussed often

The joy of loving – how different from

“Falling in love. “

We didn’t fall in love,

Didn’t feel that soaring, breathless sense

Of vertigo and craziness

That ends in painful depths.

We just knew that love was there already

And that it could continue to expand

Throughout our lives.

We walked into each other’s sight,

Knew there were no limits,

And walked on from there together.

Can that happen yet again?

I don’t know. I’m grateful that it happened once!