One does not kill oneself for love of a woman, but because love - any love - reveals us in our nakedness, our misery, our vulnerability, our nothingness.
Cesare PaveseRead
It seemed a marvel to her that any mortal should suffer for lack of love, and yet she had never known a mortal who didn't feel unloved. There was enough love just in this ugly hallway, she thought, that no one should ever feel the lack of it again. She peered at the parents, imagining their hearts like machines, manufacturing surfeit upon surfeit of love for their children, and then wondered how something could be so awesome and so utterly powerless.
Interpretation
The quote reflects on the abundant love present in the world, contrasting with human feelings of unworthiness and lack of love.
In this quote, Chris Adrian explores the paradox of love; despite the overwhelming capacity for love that exists within parents for their children, individuals still experience feelings of being unloved. The imagery of parents as machines producing endless love highlights the reality that even in abundance, love may not reach or be felt by those who need it most, emphasizing the complexity and often helpless nature of emotional connections.
In practice
A speaker discussing emotional well-being at a community center.
One does not kill oneself for love of a woman, but because love - any love - reveals us in our nakedness, our misery, our vulnerability, our nothingness.
Love may be or it may not, but where it is, it ought to reveal itself in its immensity.
Our Mother Mary is full of beauty because she is full of grace.
When daisies pied and violets blue And lady-smocks all silver-white And cuckoo-buds of yellow hue Do paint the meadows with delight, The cuckoo then, on every tree, Mocks married men; for thus sings he, Cuckoo; Cuckoo, cuckoo; O, word of fear, Unpleasing to a married ear.
As Venus within Eros does not really aim at pleasure, so Eros does not aim at happiness. We may think he does, but when he is brought to the test it proves otherwise... For it is the very mark of Eros that when he is in us we had rather share unhappiness with the Beloved than be happy on any other terms.
She wanted to crawl into his pocket and be safe forever.
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