“I lost my way, I forgot to call on your name.
The raw heart beat against the world, and the tears were for my lost victory.
But you are here.
You have always been here.
The world is all forgetting, and the heart is a rage of directions, but your name unifies the heart, and the world is lifted into its place
Blessed is the one who waits in the traveller’s heart for his turning.”
– Leonard Cohen, Poem 50, Book of Mercy
“The older we get, the lonelier we become and the deeper the love we need”.
– Joshu Sasaki Roshi, quoted by Leonard Cohen in blog by his biographer Sylvie Simmons
“Classic fairy tales do not deny the existence of heartache and sorrow, but they do deny universal defeat.”
~ Greenhaven
In fairy tales, love is an ideal, perfect relationship that was destined to be. It’s easy to forget the dark conflicts and dangers that fairy tales also present. If fairy tales really dictated our lives, true love would require early abandonment, voluntary isolation, dubious acquaintances, hazardous tests, fatal mistakes, terrifying evil and horrendous sacrifice. Yet most lovers focus only on the tales’ perfect happy endings as a template for achieving their hearts’ desire.
How much do fairy tales–in all their fantasy facets–inform our lives? Certainly in a deeply psychological manner, fairy tales express universal inner experiences in symbolic language. One message they share is that, regardless of circumstance and appearances, each of us plays out a profoundly meaningful story whose every moment is vital and whose every act has consequences. But this insight doesn’t mean we should run to slay the neighborhood dragon or devote our lives to a lover held hostage by another. One of the most dangerous pitfalls of fairy-tale romance is losing our good sense through the misinterpretation of reality… as fairy tales themselves so often tell us!
– Alexandra Katehakis and Tom Bliss, Daily Meditations, 23 October 2014, Center for Healthy Sex
“Being human always points, and is directed, to something or someone, other than oneself — be it a meaning to fulfill or another human being to encounter. The more one forgets himself — by giving himself to a cause to serve or another person to love — the more human he is.”
– Viktor Frankl
“Happy people get a lot of joy from receiving benefits from others while people leading meaningful lives get a lot of joy from giving to others…”
– Kathleen Vohs, quoted in “There’s More to Life Than Being Happy”, Atlantic Magazine, Jan 9,2013
