"The sound of kiss is not so loud as that of a cannon, but its echo lasts a great deal longer."
~ Oliver Wendell Holmes
The first kiss of New Year's Eve starts the New Year on the right note (no pun intended). At the stroke of midnight, some people celebrate the New Year by toasting a glass of champagne, blowing horns, or setting off fireworks ( some of them sound like small cannons). The most memorable sound is the sound of a kiss.
Here is a beautiful group of pictures about that First Kiss.
“Love is a decision, it is a judgment, it is a promise. If love were only a feeling, there would be no basis for the promise to love each other forever. A feeling comes and it may go. How can I judge that it will stay forever, when my act does not involve judgment and decision.” ―Erich Fromm,The Art of Loving
Peter, Paul & Mary sing "The First Time Ever I Saw Your Face" In the song "The First Time Ever I Saw Your Face", the songwriter Ewan McColl describes that his love for Peggy Seeger was there from the first moment he saw her face. This song goes on to say, "He will love her until the end of time", that is, forever. This sweet song reminds us of Erich Fromm's quote above which states that "love is a decision, a beginning of a promise to love someone forever." Another sweet poem about the other end of the lover's body, is Pablo Neurda's poem called "Your Feet", from his book The Captain's Verses.
Your Feet
When I cannot look at your face
I look at your feet.
Your feet of arched bone,
your hard little feet.
I know that they support you,
and that your sweet weight
rises upon them.
Your waist and your breasts,
the doubled purple
of your nipples,
the sockets of your eyes
that have just flown away,
your wide fruit mouth,
your red tresses,
my little tower.
But I love your feet
only because they walked
upon the earth and upon
the wind and upon the waters,
until they found me.
The holiday season is here and gift giving seems to be associated with what you can buy from stores in a mall. I prefer the gifts from this list below.
"LAST MINUTE GIFT SUGGESTIONS: To your enemy, forgiveness. To an opponent, tolerance. To a friend, your heart. To every child, a good example. To all, charity. To yourself, respect." Author Unknown, but greatly appreciated
Tracey Lawrence - Find Out Who Your Friends Are
Friends are like our own shadows - separate and yet unique to us. Scientific American magazine defines friendship as "the feeling that someone truly understands you, someone who holds up a mirror through which you can see a side of yourself that would not otherwise be accessible."
We should always give our friends our heart. Wishing you a a holiday season that sparkles with joy and love.
Another gift this season is the gift of music from the new online performance website from the Curtis Institute of Music. It is beautiful to watch two friends transport us to another world through music. Perhaps there should be one more entry on the list above. I vote to add "To the world, music."
But if in your fear you would seek only love's peace and love's pleasure, Then it is better for you that you cover your nakedness and pass out of love's threshing-floor, Into the seasonless world where you shall laugh, but not all of your laughter, and weep, but not all of your tears. ~Kahlil Gibran
When we love someone deeply, we love despite our fears and doubts.
There is no way to avoid the hurt and pain of love. The wisdom of Gibran tells us that it is even inevitable.
This is the price those who love must be willing to pay for "the pain of too much tenderness."
We cannot direct the course of love.
"And think not you can direct the course of love, for love, if it finds you worthy, directs your course." So for however long we are able, let us follow when love beckons us. Let us notice the four seasons and laugh with our whole hearts.
The nakedness of Love ( illustration from Kahlil Gibran's book "The Prophet")
“I took a deep breath and listened to the old bray of my heart. I am. I am. I am.” ~Sylvia Plath
It is never too late in the day or in your life to listen to the sighs of your heart. The interesting thing about your heartsounds is that we don't physically hear our own heartbeats, we feel them. Sometime you feel your heat beating faster when you are around the one you l0ve. Other times, you can describe the steady beat symbolically with words. In her book, "The Bell Jar," Sylvia Plath finds the lyrics : "I am. I am. I am." The beating heart symbolizes this bodily desire for life. As the years of your life tick by, reach into your heart and find not only those words that keep you alive, but also the words of self-love. Listen to your your own heart. That bray or brag is a constant reminder of our precious life and our deep need to love.
When love enters your mind, you might write a letter, send a text, or call someone on the phone. If you are a talented writer, you might pen the words below by Rabindranath Tagore:
"Most people believe the mind to be a mirror, more or less accurately reflecting the world outside them, not realizing on the contrary that the mind is a reflection of itself. We live in the world when we love it... Yes, the smile that flickers on a baby's lips when it sleeps - does anyone know where it was born?"
Tagore is a Bengali poet and winner of the 1913 Nobel Prize of Literature. His poems are magical. He also wrote:
When love enters your mind who do you think of? Do you see love as a beautiful strange flower?
A distracting smile? Does love occupy your whole mind and consciousness?
Love stretches our minds to become self-reflective. Our brains desire love and carry an optimistic hope for the future. When love enters the mind, one looks for a genuine connection, lasting relationships, and deeper intimacy.
“Love all God’s creation, both the whole and every grain of sand. Love every leaf, every ray of light. Love the animals, love the plants, love each separate thing. If thou love each thing thou wilt perceive the mystery of God in all; and when once thou perceive this, thou wilt thenceforward grow every day to a fuller understanding of it: until thou come at last to love the whole world with a love that will then be all-embracing and universal.”
When you love with your whole body and soul, says Dostoevsky, your love encompasses everything in this world. All creatures, all plants and leaves, and yes every single grain of sand become the object of our love and understanding. When the light of love enters your body, you can love the whole world.
Bob Dylan's great song reveals a darker aspect of life. Whereas Dostoevsky sees love in every grain of sand, Dylan sees a need for moral confession. Dylan and Doestoevsky see God everywhere, but come to a different conclusion. Dylan doesn't see love or good cheer. Nevertheless, Dylan realizes that the sun will light his way. Perhaps this "ray of light" will be the beginning of a new chance to find love ( "the newborn seed").
If we are to come to a full understanding of love, we must look for love in every grain of sand and in those who are still struggling, toiling and trying to find a greater balance between reality and dream.
"Every Grain Of Sand"
In the time of my confession, in the hour of my deepest need
When the pool of tears beneath my feet flood every newborn seed
There's a dying voice within me reaching out somewhere
Toiling in the danger and in the morals of despair.
Don't have the inclination to look back on any mistake
Like Cain, I now behold this chain of events that I must break
In the fury of the moment I can see the master's hand
In every leaf that trembles, in every grain of sand.
Oh, the flowers of indulgence and the weeds of yesteryear
Like criminals, they have choked the breath of conscience and good cheer
The sun beat down upon the steps of time to light the way
To ease the pain of idleness and the memory of decay.
I gaze into the doorway of temptation's angry flame
And every time I pass that way I always hear my name
Then onward in my journey I come to understand
That every hair is numbered like every grain of sand.
I have gone from rags to riches in the sorrow of the night
In the violence of a summer's dream, in the chill of a wintry light
In the bitter dance of loneliness fading into space
In the broken mirror of innocence on each forgotten face.
I hear the ancient footsteps like the motion of the sea
Sometimes I turn, there's someone there, other time it's only me
I am hanging in the balance of the reality of man
Like every sparrow falling, like every grain of sand.
Another version of this quote is: "When sleeping women wake, mountains move.” ~ Chinese proverb.
The biggest obstacle in life can be overcome if love is stronger. The recent death of Nelson Mandela reminds us that the love of freedom and the love of his South African people allowed Nelson Mandela to survive the jail cell that blocked his freedom. Like Martin Luther King, Jr., Nelson Mandela used the spiritual side of life to give him strength against the forces of hatred and aparthied.
During the long years of separation from his family and countrymen, Mandela kept a copy of his favorite poem, “Invictus” by William Ernest Hensley, in his jail cell. He drew hope and inspiration from the final lines of the poem:
“It matters not how strait the gate, How charged with punishments the scroll, I am the master of my fate: I am the captain of my soul.”
But Nelson Mandela also used the power of love to overcome his mountain of despair and imprisonment. Upon his release he met and later married Graca Machel. Together they moved mountains.
You know other women who moved mountains. They are the women who fought for social justice, equal rights, child welfare, job discrimination, and unsafe work conditions.
Move Mountains
This song (above) by Sarah Bella tells the story of compassionate and romantic love. So does this film about the wife of a coal miner in West Virginia. When her town and husband are becoming sick from coal mining that is contaminating their drinking water, Patricia Bragg decides to take action.
When you wake, are you moving mountains? It is possible if your love is powerful and fearless.
