The Nature of Unconditional Love? (19 December 2007)

In response to THE ZAHIR ( by Paulo Coehlo)


(entry written last night just before falling asleep...)

To be free, is to know the borders that define the space within which to be free. Yes, it is for safety, but I think more importantly, it roots us. Children push an adults boundaries out of duty, they need to know how strong the limits are - its to determine how safe the environment is that their parents / adults have created for them to be in (and then parents wonder why their children behave as they do, with exasperation I might add - they have no boundaries of their own! But this is another topic altogether.)

The more firmly rooted the tree (the image of course if from Paulo's quote of the Arabic proverb), the more freedom and give the branches have to blow in different kinds of wind.

Decisions define the nature of our roots. Committing to our decisions, roots us more clearly - providing us also with clearer navigational directions. It defines us with more clarity out into the external world, so that others may also truely know who we are.

If our decisions and choices stem from our roots, there can be no contradiction or discrepancy, for the tap-root feeds the body, and the heart. I think of this becasue as I read further, I am amazed at the nature of Esther and the writer's relationship and its "freedom" round infidelity. I think of my own experiences of this and I am challenged...... It challenges me because the thought of infidelity, and especially in a space of this kind where they both KNOW about it, scares me. Is this the kind of relationship I have to be in to be able to live fully all I am? Oh dear.

And then I think that perhaps it is possible to have the kind of ebb-and-flow relationship AND a committment to fidelity. Its the terms of the nature of the relationship that provide clarity and a sense of security. The stronger the roots, the freedom to be. This is still sinking in, there are some walls I'm needing to confront and demolish, as I try and wrap my mind around a very foreign idea. And yet, perhaps I need to challenge this manner of relationship as well.

Despite this confrontation, I continue to read. For I find each word saturated with meaning. I have to savour each individual succulent morsel, swallow, digest and absorb the full extent of its content before moving onto the next bite...... Lets see how I go.