a lesson on love

quoted from Paolo Coelho's blog..

What’s love for you ?

There’s a motto in Alchemy: “Concentrate and dissolve”. As you may know alchemists would, through laboratory studies, try to distill the mercury from the sulfur and then refine the mercury until it converted into gold. This quest would lead them to the Philosopher Stone (which was the solid component) and the Long Life Elixir. All the process of distilling is based on this very simple motto: concentrate – meaning extracting the essence – and dissolve – meaning mixing the essence with something else.
Many disregard that through this routine, alchemists were also training their patience and thus transforming their perception of the world.

I think you can apply this same motto to love: in order to preserve love’s freedom, one has to be able at the same time to dive into its essence and to share it others.

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i often find it challenging this love game. even my mom worded it aptly...i find it hard to let people truly in but when i do i pour out all affection. she described me this way perhaps growing up i was the kind of kid who didn't readily join the other kids but when i did there was no stopping me. i am that way still. the act of restraint only happens in the beginning, setting certain limitations for the way i display affection but when i begin to do so there is no stopping me. most of the time it is an innocent overflow of the care and comfort i feel for a person. misinterpreted too, to be more than what is meant. i've often been labeled "malandi" by many, an adjective that cuts to the bone. i guess in this world where stoicism and apathy have gained the upper hand it is a breath of fresh air for people to feel a hug or a pat on the back. often times, people have been so desensitized to an open and public display for internal emotions that they dont know how to react.

plunging inside the unknown and often turbulent waters of love is a leap of faith...an act of courage. and the ability to share this kind of courage with others is an extension of this bravery. i think the quest of this human race is to search for the river of love. some have been able to find it, true love that is, and have been able to channel it into a productive and relational phenomena. Mother Theresa. Pope John Paul II. Princess Diana. but most of us humans can't. the true purpose of being human is to be able to relate with the other, to be relational creatures, but our contemporary daily lives have constituted an individualistic way of living. the him, her, it has been translated to I, me, myself. this 180 degree turn has contributed, in my opinion, to the increase of violence. i thank Paolo Coelho for reminding me, today, of the power of love and its ability to transform.