When completing a profile for Facebook, one section says "Religious views:" I appreciate that they left it open ended -- not a drop-down menu -- so you can fill it in any way that you want. I automatically left it blank and just skipped ahead.
For some reason in the last few days I've been thinking about it. Really the only thing that I can say is that I believe in love. "Religious views: I believe in love." I resisted putting that in because it sounds so hokey and romantic. It sounds girly. It sounds silly, insipid, naive.
Well...OK. Truly I don't know how it sounds. That's just what I think it might sound like. And that projected perception is in conflict with my (self-)image of being sharp, intellectual, a little tough, strong. This is an image which arises naturally out of both my self-reliance and my intellect. I am associated with dry wit, complicated texts, aggressive sports, high risk. Then again, that's a self-image which I think is incomplete, which I think helps to cut me off from others a little, which leads to isolation.
The truth is that I am all that and am still soft and sparkly inside. I hold on dearly to memories of romantic things I've done for others or which have been done for me -- and that I find it confusing that I frequently date people who are not romantic, or are not romantic in the quirky artistic way that I really adore. I dream of things like returning from a hard day climbing a multipitch route to find the path home lined with jars of fireflies and an invitation to release them back into the night together. And I am not ashamed that people might think that I might like that.
And the other truth is that the love I believe in is not romantic love. When it comes to a religious belief, I mean that I believe that if we all focused on love, if we all just thought about how to best express love for each other, then the world would be a happier place. I believe in community, connections, a foundation based on "we" not "I." If we could think about loving without owning, a love that doesn't have the counterbalance of hate or fear or jealousy, a love that was just giving and trusting, then I believe that all good things would follow out of that. It's not easy to do. You have to believe that there's enough love to go around. And I do believe in that.
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4 comments:
anyone knowing even a glimpse of you would know pretty close to what you meant if you posted that.
but a random someone on facebook, yea, I dunno...XD
Thank you for this post. It was quite refreshing to read, something honest that I can relate to.
I believe in love. I believe that love will be the force, the theoretical "balance that tips the scale" in solving differences not just in religion, but in other matters as well. I think it's just a question of how much love it would take to truly make a difference. Love is and should be given freely. But because of our need to be loved in return we hold back. Love is complicated. And with all the everyday crap mixed in, it makes it hard to see clearly and feel giving without fear of exposing ourselves. Why does love come in at that "zero hour" to save the day after much struggle and build-up? Why in the final moment do we realize that it's all that matters?
What I'm hoping for is the "Baz Luhrmann" kind of love. :) I still believe in love.
From me to you, I'm sending you love, Cianna.
yaa i too think that love is important in daily life
if we create a ww wasteline of cloths and other things like gadgets and other thing then it will improve to a better world
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