You know, Kathryn, it's a shame because it's hard to write about love without feeling like you're going to get corny. I love that song. I mean, those lyrics are pretty damn true.
Well, Grant, you were certainly not corny. Your thoughts and observations echo my own. Language limits our ability to express feelings, and the cynics will always find fault no matter how we put words to what is so fundamental to our survival, personally and for humankind. Keep italicizing and bolding "because love is radicalizing."
I used to think love was a feeling. Learning love was action, what we do, not what we say, changed everything. Love is a choice I make everyday. I love writing because I get to witness magic as words and wisdom, beyond what I think I know, appear on the page or screen.
I wish I’d understood the power of love when I was young.
As I age, I see that beyond feelings, actions and behavior, love begins within each of us as an intention. Thoughts precede language, language precedes behavior, yet intention, to me, precedes thoughts. Thanks Grant. Another great, thought provoking piece of writing.
It's interesting how it is such an overpowering feeling, yet it's all of those other things you mention, too: it's an action, a choice. I love the idea that it's a choice, but it's only partly a choice, because sometimes love chooses us.
I don't think we possibly could have understood the power of love when we were young. You might say I'm just beginning to learn about it now, in fact.
Do these definitions of love come from a place of privilege? Of having enough to eat and a house and schools for your children and a car, etc etc? I keep thinking of people who live or die under unfathomable suffering caused by other humans. I can't wrap my head around letting them off the hook or helping them off the hook. Yes, there are people who have loved beyond atrocities, but those are few and far between, some call them saints. BUT, if we are assuming that these definition of love operate in our niche world, then I can see the radicalizing potential. Or am I just way off mark here?
Good points, Marianna, and it's always worth checking your privilege. Carvell's memoir is about living homeless as a child and various traumas he experienced, among other things, so I think his life, and his definition of love as "struggle" is anything but privileged. Same with James Baldwin.
I think my overall point, though, is that no matter who we are or what our station is, we need to define what love means to us, and I like to think that practicing love is radicalizing no matter who you are. Because somehow you're going beyond yourself, you're opening yourself up to others.
Excellent point about Baldwin. I don't know much about Carvell, although I did listen to the podcast and enjoyed it, as usual. For sure practicing love in any way possible has to be radicalizing. Yes, I see that. Thanks for explaining!
Thanks so much, Thaisa. I love this Yeats quote. I love the idea of love having its own life, its own source, its own direction, which it so often seems to have.
Grant, as corny as it may sound, a song by Burt Bacharach and Hal David began swirling in my head by the end of your post:
"What the world needs now
Is love, sweet love
It's the only thing that there's just too little of
What the world needs now
Is love, sweet love
No, not just for some, but for everyone"
So...I will join you "because love is radicalizing"
Love. Build. Love. Rebuild. Love. Repeat. Go. Go. Go.
You know, Kathryn, it's a shame because it's hard to write about love without feeling like you're going to get corny. I love that song. I mean, those lyrics are pretty damn true.
Well, Grant, you were certainly not corny. Your thoughts and observations echo my own. Language limits our ability to express feelings, and the cynics will always find fault no matter how we put words to what is so fundamental to our survival, personally and for humankind. Keep italicizing and bolding "because love is radicalizing."
I used to think love was a feeling. Learning love was action, what we do, not what we say, changed everything. Love is a choice I make everyday. I love writing because I get to witness magic as words and wisdom, beyond what I think I know, appear on the page or screen.
I wish I’d understood the power of love when I was young.
As I age, I see that beyond feelings, actions and behavior, love begins within each of us as an intention. Thoughts precede language, language precedes behavior, yet intention, to me, precedes thoughts. Thanks Grant. Another great, thought provoking piece of writing.
I agree. It's all about that intention. Remembering it. Guiding things through it.
It's interesting how it is such an overpowering feeling, yet it's all of those other things you mention, too: it's an action, a choice. I love the idea that it's a choice, but it's only partly a choice, because sometimes love chooses us.
I don't think we possibly could have understood the power of love when we were young. You might say I'm just beginning to learn about it now, in fact.
Yes, it’s true that sometimes love chooses us. But it’s also true that we make the choice to either embrace or reject this gift.
You're absolutely right.
"Trying for the impossible, straining … a definition of love." Yes, Grant. Yes.
Do these definitions of love come from a place of privilege? Of having enough to eat and a house and schools for your children and a car, etc etc? I keep thinking of people who live or die under unfathomable suffering caused by other humans. I can't wrap my head around letting them off the hook or helping them off the hook. Yes, there are people who have loved beyond atrocities, but those are few and far between, some call them saints. BUT, if we are assuming that these definition of love operate in our niche world, then I can see the radicalizing potential. Or am I just way off mark here?
Good points, Marianna, and it's always worth checking your privilege. Carvell's memoir is about living homeless as a child and various traumas he experienced, among other things, so I think his life, and his definition of love as "struggle" is anything but privileged. Same with James Baldwin.
I think my overall point, though, is that no matter who we are or what our station is, we need to define what love means to us, and I like to think that practicing love is radicalizing no matter who you are. Because somehow you're going beyond yourself, you're opening yourself up to others.
Excellent point about Baldwin. I don't know much about Carvell, although I did listen to the podcast and enjoyed it, as usual. For sure practicing love in any way possible has to be radicalizing. Yes, I see that. Thanks for explaining!
A great column, Grant....thank you. I've always liked this quote from Yeats:
"from rock, from an allien source,
love leaps upon its course..."
Thanks so much, Thaisa. I love this Yeats quote. I love the idea of love having its own life, its own source, its own direction, which it so often seems to have.