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Most of what I have written in this site has to do with learning to love each other, but none
of this can be fully accomplished if we cannot first learn to love ourselves. We must learn to have faith in the beauty that
we are without the masks, without the shame, without the denial. It is not an easy thing when all around us speaks of conformity
and norms and ideals and on this we are judged even unto the man who personifies it all. What is the difference? He who shows
himself as someone who holds all these traits is a liar to himself and to others and in this regard helps to perpetuate an
illusion that oppresses the human soul.
If we share ourselves honestly we make ourselves a target for judgment, scorn,
ridicule, something we can ill afford in our commercial existence. If however, we do not find a way to break ourselves from
this pattern everything we know and do, is superficial. Therefore, love cannot hold its true meaning.
In relationships,
two people are able to let go of some of their masks, they allow themselves to be trusting enough to share themselves, one
would ask why do we attempt this? Why do we seek to know each other under these conditions, and yet spend so much of our lives
hiding from one another in other conditions? The answer is simple, it is because we must...within us there is a desire to
be accepted for who we are, we cannot deny ourselves and our lies are burdens.
We also sell each other short in our
fear, each man, each woman, would love to have the freedom of being truly understood and accepted...so why do we hide? I believe
that within us there is a struggle between mind and soul. Our mind is a lonely hollow place, that echos and reverberates fear.
Our soul is a like a river that runs to a boundless ocean, the ocean calls to its waters, and those bodies that do not join
the ocean become stagnant and over time dry up and loose their ability to sustain life. We should not let our minds become
the barrier that contains our soul. Rather it should be the other way around; it is the soul that should fill and carry the
mind with it to the ocean.
Opening oneself to another is not an easy thing, it requires trust, we fear rejection,
we fear not meeting certain ideals and expectations. Sharing oneself is like the opening of a rose, and it is not until the
rose has begun to open that we can appreciate its fragrance. It is like the fist, curled to punch, that opens to a palm ready
to caress. It is Pandoras box and says here are all the things about me, some of them are painful and may sting, but if you
look deep into my box you will see the beauty I hold that has the power to overcome these things. It is like the belly of
any animal, human or otherwise, which is only offered in surrender.
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