ALCHEMY OF WORDSBLOG |
ALCHEMY OF WORDSBLOG |
I mean that not as a noun, not even as a verb, but as a command. Or, more poignantly, as a simple instruction for life. As a game plan with only one play. A game plan that should be tattooed, not taped, to your wrist. Love is simple. We confuse and distract ourselves with hundreds of strategies for happiness, for success, for control, for security, for life. When the answer is simple. Albeit, counter-intuitive. In our defense, this is probably because, while this one-word-directive may seem simple, somehow it is not. The reasons why are probably fodder for at least twelve months of essays, all by themselves. But I think it is mostly because we are fearful beings. No matter what we say or how we act. Love is dangerous. No matter the bravado. No matter the hours at the gym, the tattoos, the sexy clothes, the cadre of friends, the cool job, or the hipness of our hangouts. No matter the number of times we read these words, study them in books, pay teachers to tell us, repeat them in mantras, stack the pillows, clear our minds, burn the right incense. No matter our friend counts, the notches on the bedpost or the numbers in the bank. No matter our previous revelations. Love remembers. We forget. We lose faith. We doubt. We disbelieve. We call past successes flukes and focus only on failure. We begin again our strategies for survival. Yes, survival. We decide that all else is fool-hearted frivolity. That we need to spend less time watching the stars and more time watching our backs. We fall back into fear. Because fear is easy. Fear comforts us as it tell us lies. Fear gets our back, it says. Protects our hearts, it assures. Leads us not into temptation. Not to cliffs and falls. Fear teaches us lessons in letting ourselves be too free. Lest we forget again. Lest we let our hearts hold the reins again. Lest we lose our way. Again. Love knows the truth. And the truth is not easy. The truth is not simple. Not courteous or kind. The truth is blinding in its beatitudes. Ruthless in its revelations. And above all, breathtaking in its beauty. And beauty, well, you know what that is. Love is beauty. In all its shapes and sizes. In all its gifts and grandeur. In its bliss and its barely believableness. In its understatement and its overwhelm. In its cruelty and its crystalline clarity. In its ability to break your heart and to save your life. With one swift stroke. Yes, it is true. The answer is simple. It is taking our own advice that is hard. Even as I write this, I must remind myself that it is true. Because I’m no different from you. And you’re no different from her or him. Which leads us back to the reason there is only one rule. Love is everywhere. Yes, I mean literally everywhere. As in not figuratively. As in you need only reach out and your fingers will touch it. As in take a step forward and you can’t help but bump into it. As in open your mouth and some of it will come out. As in open your heart and some of it can’t help but spill inside. And so why aren’t we all just constantly swimming around in blissful revelations of beauty and self-awareness and fulfillment? Well, because. Love is complicated. Or as I’ve said, love breaks all rules / ignores all customs / cuts through fences / slips across front lines / trespasses against us / steals what it pleases / pleases its victims / slays its critics / bleeds us to delirium / and saves our souls. No matter the cost. (from love: study 1, Waking Up at Rembrandt's) Sometimes this simple directive to love is hard to follow, sometimes it’s easy. But whatever action you take, if you do it with your heart open, that is enough. That will change the results. It will change your reaction. And it will change your experience. Of yourself. Of others. Of your whole damn life. Love takes many shapes. Love is not being foolish or naive, not shirking from who you are, not being afraid to use your voice. Love is showing up, reaching out, standing in your gifts, sharing your vision, connecting, being open. And as you probably already know, doing these things is both wonderful and terrifying. In the end, there is only love. Because in the beginning there is only love. So giving the instruction is simple. And yes, acting on it takes a little more. A little more courage. A little more faith. A little better memory. A little thicker skin. But in the end, what is required is the willingness to let love have its way with you. Or as Mr. Kravitz so artfully taught us. Let love rule. * * * This is one of 66 essays in the Gold Nautilus Award winning collection, Happiness Is an Imaginary Line in the Sand. The book is available here: https://bit.ly/40s3Gh0 Subscribe to Substack for more fun with words: https://thomaslloydqualls.substack.com/
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