Last week, two special days collided. First came Ash Wednesday. The next day was Valentine’s Day. It may not be obvious to everyone, but I am struck by what they have in common: Love.
Ash Wednesday says:
No matter what, no matter what you do, no matter what you experience, yes, no matter what, you are loved. No getting away from it. No opting yourself out. You may feel unloved. You may be utterly convinced you are unloved. My deepest and sincere apologies, but you are loved. I invite you to start living with it.
St. Valentine’s Day is a little different. It says, quoting astrologer Rob Brezsny:
Meditate on the relentlessness of your yearning for love. Recognize the fact that your eternal longing will never leave you in peace. Accept that it will forever delight you, torment you, inspire you, and bewilder you — whether you are alone or in the throes of a complicated relationship. Understand that your desire for love will just keep coming and coming and coming, keeping you slightly off-balance and pushing you to constantly revise your ideas about who you are. Now read this declaration from the poet Rilke and claim it as your own: “My blood is alive with many voices that tell me I am made of longing.”
Both days seem to affirm something: it can take some courage to love. Especially when our heart has been broken. Especially when our hearts were broken when we were small children, some of us still in the womb. Our growth became a condition (and in our minds, the cause) of infinite separateness, and we are in mourning as we seek to re-establish re-union.
So, I am enjoying these two days very much. Why? Because they invite me to stop a kind of trying that means I will never have what I reach for. It invites me to just have these two days, bask in love that is here right now, and admit that profound defeat that is our victory.
My love to you all.
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