The erotic is a measure between the beginnings of our sense of self and the chaos of our strongest feelings.
Interpretation
The quote explores the relationship between self-identity and powerful emotions.
Audre Lorde suggests that the erotic, or deep emotional and sensual experiences, serves as a bridge connecting our understanding of who we are with the tumultuous nature of our most intense feelings. This connection emphasizes the importance of embracing our desires and emotions as integral parts of our identity and experience, rather than merely chaotic forces to be controlled or suppressed.
In practice
In a discussion about emotional intelligence, this quote can highlight the significance of understanding our feelings in relation to self-identity.
The fact that we are here and that I speak these words is an attempt to break that silence and bridge some of those differences between us, for it is not difference which immobilizes us, but silence. And there are so many silences to be broken.
There is no thing as a single-issue struggle because we do not live single-issue lives.
There are no new ideas. There are only new ways of making them felt.
I am not free while any woman is unfree, even when her shackles are very different from my own.
I am deliberate and afraid of nothing.
There's always someone asking you to underline one piece of yourself - whether it's Black, woman, mother, dyke, teacher, etc. - because that's the piece that they need to key in to. They want to dismiss everything else.
War is a business in which a lot of people watch a few people get killed and are damn glad it wasn't them.
I never look forward, because I have no idea about how any of it happened to getting here. I've no idea how the next five years are going to be.
But where are you going to, Helen? Can you see? Do you know?-I believe; I have faith: I am going to God.-Where is God? What is God?-My maker and yours, who will never destroy what He created. I rely implicitly on His power, and confide wholly in His goodness: I count the hours till that eventful one arrives which shall restore me to Him, reveal Him to me.
Chance does not speak essentially through words nor can it be seen in their convolution. It is the eruption of language, its sudden appearance. It's not a night twinkle with stars, an illuminated sleep, nor a drowsy vigil. It is the very edge of consciousness.
As human beings, we all have reasons for our behavior. There may be people who have certain physiological issues that dictate why they make certain choices. On the whole, though, I think we're dictated by our structure, our past, our environment, our culture. So once you understand the patterns that shape a person, how can you not find sympathy?
The highest glory of the American Revolution was this: it connected in one indissoluble bond the principles of civil government with the principles of Christianity.
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