Romantic Musings: The Paradox of Passion

Nothing is inevitable, except love.

Some might contend that the only inevitabilities are death and taxes. To that, I say, not everyone pays their taxes, and those who truly live are the ones who never die.

What does it mean to truly live?

We often ask ourselves: “What is the meaning of life?”

What is it?

What is it, not?

Although there are goals to accomplish, dreams to fulfill: artists who wish to create & change the world, ambitious individuals who wish to accumulate mass amounts of wealth, performers who long to stand center stage before adoring fans, etc; the meaning of life is deeper than that.

Dare I say that the meaning of life is to live for someone else?

Not “for” as “in place of,” but “for” as in “we complete each other.”

What is a moon without the stars?

What is a kiss without meaning?

What is a life without love?

It is nothing. And yet, nothing is inevitable, except love.

Love.

Love in its myriad of forms and stages, like a rose.

Love… that sweet obsession of a spark that flares and illuminates your heart like a match, and dwindles away as it struggles to breathe.

Love… that torch you light and carry for the one you will place on a pedestal, to kindle your memories, and guide you through the loneliness of your dreams.

Love… that brazier that warms your soul in the autumn of your days, and the winter of your life.

Love is the force capable of transporting us back to when we knew no heartbreak. A portal of inter-dimensional space and time through which we may journey, consciously or not, to the moments we lived and those we wished we had.

Love changes us, or more accurately reveals what lies beneath the surface. Akin to nourishing the seed within the soil, love is water for the soul.

It is liquid courage for the heart, for alcohol reveals the truth in an analogous way. A wine of the gods, a special vintage that gets better with time, even after it has been sipped. Perhaps it is the one true elixir of youth.

Various blends that we sample with inexperienced palettes as we frolic among the frivolities of innocent enchantments, until we find the flavor that we hope to relish forever.

Forever, though, is such a long time. It is infinite, even if the universe is not.

Yet, when we fall in love, when we fall truly, madly, and deeply in love, we hope that it will never end. Hope is, after-all, the air of our existence.

We inhale, and hold our breath.

We exhale when our hope is realized.

Realized when we fall in love. Be it at first sight, or over time.

We meet love as we meet a friend. Strangers at first glance, acquaintances along the journey of life, and partners with destiny entwined, eternally.

The connection is unparalleled, the bond is unbreakable, and the realm knows no boundaries, for when kindred spirits merge their horizons expand.

Galaxies collide.

Their energy, fervent desire, fuses as two souls become one. From the merger, an event horizon, luminous, and inescapable draws you deeper into love, and moves you forward in time.

Forever.

Bursting through the portal of passion, perhaps creating a universe all it’s own.

The cycle of creation, perpetuating the purpose of life.

Love.

Created by that collision, we wander through the universe like a comet on a trajectory determined by destiny. We search the darkness for the star that will lure us in. Circumnavigating the heart that burst into existence to complete our lives.

Living to love another unconditionally is to live for the truest purpose of all. To do that, one must know everything about the other: deepest fears, darkest secrets, and the idiosyncrasies that makes each person who they are. The legacy of that love lives on for generations. In that regard, one truly never dies.

Death is so final, whereas love is inevitable.

“The two most important days in your life are the day you are born and the day you find out why.” ~Mark Twain.

(Dedicated to Kath Bergin, my high school American Studies teacher, and her husband for their recent 49th wedding anniversary).