Sunday, September 21, 2008

Love

“There is a desire within each of us, in the deep center of ourselves that we call our heart. We were born with it, it is never completely satisfied, and it never dies. We are often unaware of it, but it is always awake. It is the human desire for love. Every person on this earth yearns to love, to be loved, to know love. Our true identity, our reason for being, is to be found in this desire.

“I think William Blake was right about the purpose of humanity; we are here to learn to bear the beams of love. There are three meanings of bearing love: to endure it, to carry it, and to bring it forth. In the first, we are meant to grow in our capacity to endure love’s beauty and pain. In the second, we are meant to carry love and spread it around, as children carry laughter and measles. And in the third we are meant to bring new love into the world, to be birthers of love. This is the threefold nature of our longing.”

May, Gerald G. The Awakened Heart. San Francisco: Harper Collins, 1991. 1.

6 comments:

Wormwood's Doxy said...

That is really lovely, Jan--thanks for sharing it.

Elaine (aka...Purple) said...

Gerald May is one of my favorite authors.

Jennifer said...

This book is on my nightstand to read this week!
Thanks!!!!!!

Treehugger said...

What an amazing insight! It takes my breath away, and makes my heart skip-a-beat, just to let it soak into my spirit. Thank you for sharing!

Ruth Hull Chatlien said...

That's quite wonderful. I really love the three purposes.

Sherry said...

This was lovely Jan. Thank you. It's obviously been a difficult week for you. My thoughts and prayers are with you. Take care.