Love Me
A significant aspect of life on this planet is the opportunity of relationship. Whether it is with a business partner, a family member, a friend or a lover, we are fortunate, in all of our interactions with others, to be given a mirror through which we may observe our selves. The more intimate the relationship the deeper the view. The more honest we are with our selves, the clearer our perception.
In an intimate relationship we often see our self reflected to us from the one who sits across from us, who lies beside us, walks with us hand in hand. We laugh with them, cry with them and sort out life's bumps. We listen. They listen. They are a witness to our life as we are a witness for their life. Their is always love, always allowing, always trust to which we surrender and feel safe enough to be vulnerable. We attain a level of communication that summons the god and the goddess in each of us to express.
It is a beautiful picture that we may all have when we conjure our vision of relationship. Each one of us paints our own picture based on those wants and needs that motivate us during the various cycles of our lives. It is those wants and needs that we bring with us into a relationship that eventually, if allowed to determine our actions and reactions to another that can create disharmony, anxiety and emotional stress. When we are in relationship, every thing that we feel we are not or have not or do not, will be brought to our attention in some way by the other person. And, it can happen in such a subtle way that we actually think the other person is responsible for our misery.
Every time we stop to consider the source of the issue, we see that the cause of it originates within our own mind. Our ego is seeking, has a want or a desire, and insists that it be fulfilled. If we find ourselves constantly in need of something from our partner whom we criticize whenever we are not happy, there is a real need to stop and ask "what is it I want of this person?"
When we are able to see our partner as an individual unto themselves and not a projection of 'my life', we can see them as the incredible gift they are--demonstrating to us where it is that we need to admit to our own illusions for then it is that we can set about creating new and positive thought patterns which support and empower us.
It has been a long time that men and women have danced the dance of opposition. Let us celebrate our similarities also and come together as equals fulfilling our own needs and therefore being free to love ourselves and the other, the precious gift that we attract into our life, unconditionally.
In ancient mythology, there is the tale of Acis and Galatea. The sea nymph Galatea was in love with Acis, son of Faunus, nature god and a Naiad, water nymph. Acis in turn loved Galatea though he was but a youth. They shared their love quite openly which infuriated the cyclops Polythemus who was also in love with Galatea. So in love was this one-eyed giant that he improved his appearance and put aside his violent ways to impress the young maiden, to no avail. One afternoon he sees the couple together at a picnic. So enraged does he become that he picks up a boulder from the mountain side and hurls it at the two.
Galatea observing the giant first flees the spot and finds refuge in the depths of the ocean, her home, leaving Acis to fend for himself. Being of mixed origin, water and earth, he finds solace in neither and is crushed as the boulder released by Polythemus catches him from behind. Somewhere within the paragraphs of this simple myth is a profound message. We can choose to deny even our most undesirable qualities including the beast within (Polythemus) but what we risk is a seperation from anything we project those qualities onto. Acis was rejected by Galatea for territory that was far more familiar to the young sea nymph. Within the depths of the sea, symbolically speaking the unconscious, Galatea was able to hide. Presumably, what magic she possessed was not available to her on dry land.
It was not until Demeter's daughter, (Ceres, Roman and goddess of agriculture) Persephone, became the wife of Pluto, god of the underworld (symbolically the unconscious, land of the dead) and was subsequently given permission to dwell above ground for six months (so that agriculture would flourish) that we have the opportunity to embrace the different levels of our psyche. The journey has been not only to bring balance and harmony to the anima and animus (feminine/masculine) but also to recognize our primal self--one aspect of which can be observed within the nature of the cyclops, Polythemus whom we see transcend his beastliness when the aspect of love becomes part of the equation that is life.
