Love Transcends... Man's Search for Meaning

“Love is the only way to grasp another human being in the innermost core of his personality. No one can become fully aware of the very essence of another human being unless he loves him. By his love he is enabled to see the essential traits and features in the beloved person; and even more, he sees that which is potential in him, which is not yet actualized but yet ought to be actualized. Furthermore, by his love, the loving person enables the beloved person to actualize these potentialities. By making him aware of what he can be and of what he should become, he makes these potentialities come true.” 

“Love goes very far beyond the physical person of the beloved. It finds its deepest meaning in its spiritual being, his inner self. Whether or not he is actually present, whether or not he is still alive at all, ceases somehow to be of importance.” 

― Viktor E. Frankl, Man's Search for Meaning

You Learn

You Learn

After a while you learn the subtle difference

Between holding a hand and chaining a soul, 

And you learn that love doesn’t mean leaning

And company doesn’t mean security. 

And you begin to learn that kisses aren’t contracts

And presents aren’t promises, 

And you begin to accept your defeats

With your head up and your eyes open

With the grace of a woman, not the grief of a child,

And you learn to build all your roads on today

Because tomorrow’s ground is too uncertain for plans

And futures have a way of falling down in mid-flight.

After a while you learn…

That even sunshine burns if you get too much. 

So you plant your garden and decorate your own soul,

Instead of waiting for someone to bring you flowers. 

And you learn that you really can endure…

That you really are strong

And you really do have worth… 

And you learn and learn…

With every good-bye you learn.

 {…}

“A writer – and, I believe, generally all persons – must think that whatever happens to him or her is a resource. All things have been given to us for a purpose, and an artist must feel this more intensely. All that happens to us, including our humiliations, our misfortunes, our embarrassments, all is given to us as raw material, as clay, so that we may shape our art.” ~ Jorge Luis Borges