eros

Today was our third session with C.S. Lewis on the Four Loves. The third love is Eros. A difficult, and dangerous subject, as Lewis began by saying.

Here are a few of his thoughts.

- Eros love does not aim at pleasure or happiness. It may come, but it is not the aim.

- Being in love will always contain a level of idolatry, which, is usually true of most things in our lives, the greater danger is making love itself the idol.

- Love makes vows without being asked.

- Passion is only incentive, it's the dive into the water.

- Being in love is something we choose, falling in love is something that happens.

- There are a lot of things in our world that we go to just for the thrill and the sensation. Is this how the man treats the woman after he has been satisfied? When one is done with a pack of cigarettes, the package is tossed.

- In a friendship each person comes for themselves, with their own interests. With Eros, it is all of the masculinity in us and all of the femininity uniting.

- Eros is when we would rather share unhappiness with the beloved, than be apart from them. We would rather be miserable with them than happy without them. If this isn't true, it is not Eros.

- To the woman: Would you live for this man? To the man: Would you die for this woman?

Love ceases to be a demon,
only when it ceases to be a god.

satisfied.

I feel satisfied. Whole. His love...as faithful as the morning.


Beauty. He is.


Being in Ireland has been one of the best things in my life. I feel such a deep joy that has begun to take root. I have found freedom in surrendering. Everything that comes across my path. I feel like I am growing into myself more, as God shapes a vision for me. I love being able to play - all the time. I love getting into telephone booths and pretending to go to space. :) I love finding beauty everywhere. Having a rose garden where I can go and create bouquets brings me so much happiness. I love delving into learning. I feel as if C.S. Lewis is a dear old friend of mine. I love the times with Jesus. Sweetness, and peace in his presence. There's so much promise ahead. I can feel the change, and it's so good.

Let it be a testimony of His goodness.

"Though you have made me see troubles,
many and bitter,
you will restore my life again;
from the depths of the earth
you will bring me up.
You will increase my honor
and comfort me once again." {Ps. 71:20-21}

Pride leads to every other vice.

Don't waste your youth growing up.

feel.

When anger is harboured within us it begins to eat at our soul. Our hearts become bitter and cold. So cold. Instead of letting ourselves feel, we become numb. We think if we can ignore pain, we are stronger - but that's a lie. Soon enough we find that we are mere shells of who we used to be. And that...is tragic.

let’s go said he
not too far said she
what’s too far said he
where you are said she
{e.e. cummings}

[ ]

"I think that if God forgives us we must forgive ourselves. Otherwise, it is almost like setting up ourselves as a higher tribunal than Him." {C.S. Lewis}

Clive Staples Lewis

I am continually impressed with the thoughts and writings of C.S. Lewis. We have been reading his book, "Miracles" as well as listening to a radio recording of him teaching about the Four Loves. It is fascinating. These are some things that caught my attention:

On Philia, the love of friendship.

-True friendship has no need to fall back on reminiscing.

-The only love that is not necessary.

-The least jealous and least demanding of the loves.

-Exaggerates our character qualities, i.e. makes brave men more brave, proud men more proud, etc.

Comparison:
Philia/Friendship - "Because he is he, and I am I."
Camaraderie - "I am a fisherman, and he is a fisherman."
Eros/Romantic love - "Because we are key and lock, wax and seal..."

All the loves only become love as far as they participate in THE LOVE.

In "Miracles", C.S. Lewis presented the idea that death is a freedom we have been given. Satan's seemingly victory, is instead God's redemption and glory. What if we never died? What if sin had entered the world and we just continued on living in our human state forever? It would be miserable. Death should then be seen as a gateway to life. A hope we have been given, freedom from our depravity.

I cannot wait to continue learning more from C.S. Lewis. He presents the simplest thoughts in the most beautiful ways.

how things do change.

It's funny how sure I was of what I wanted. Now I really don't know. Sometimes it's best to take off the rose colored glasses.

{love} this.

.

"To live is the rarest thing in the world.

Most people exist, that is all."

{Oscar Wilde}

.

"Somewhere we know that without silence words lose their meaning, that without listening speaking no longer heals, that without distance closeness cannot cure." {Henri Nouwen}

{ }

I want you to be happy.

"Some day you will be old enough to start reading fairy tales again." {C.S. Lewis}

Be my rock of refuge, to which I can always go.

{Ps. 71:3}

nothing is accidental.

{ }

If I...

I hate missing you. I don't want to anymore.

All I want is a hot shower, coconut shampoo, my pink pillow, and a book. In that order.

Ireland is wonderful, but I'm exhausted.

I like this one.

peace.

Tomorrow I leave for Ireland. It doesn't seem real. But my heart is finally ready.

I know there are so many things God wants to teach me. So many places He wants to take me in His heart.

Last night I freaked out. I had a panic attack. I called home sobbing and I said, "Mum, what if God stops loving me?" It was an absurd fear that for a moment I had let control all rational thought.

God is constant. He is unlike anything we know. His love does not change, it does not waver...it just is.

God is beginning to break apart the tiny box I have had my relationship with Him crammed into. Today I felt His presence hanging about me. Today I felt secure.

I never knew anything could hurt this much.

favorite.

{...}

September rain.
Thunder roar.
Lightning rips.
Tea grown cold.
Porcelain heart.
Trembling lips.
Anchor gone.
Threadless sheets.
Time again.
One last sip.
Empty box.
Permanent ink.
Music skips.
Queen of hearts.
Winning hand.
Sunken ship.
.
Filed, listed, surname: C.

He is jealous for me.

"Therefore I am now going to allure her; I will lead her into the desert and speak tenderly to her." {Hosea 2:10}

He will never grow weary of the pursuit. He is brave enough to come behind my every wall. He longs for my heart. I will never be too much for Him, I will always be enough for Him. He will not love me better if I become better. He loves me exactly the way I am, exactly where I am at.
.
.
In His beauty I will delight.

In the nearness of Him I will breathe deep.

Guardian of my heart.

{ jeune coeur }

"The pursuit of truth and beauty is a sphere of activity in which we are permitted to remain children all our lives." - Albert Einstein

"We were made for God. Only by being in some respect like Him, only by being a manifestation of His beauty,loving kindness, wisdom or goodness, has any earthly Beloved excited our love. It is not that we have loved them too much, but that we did not quite understand what we were loving. It is not that we shall be asked to turn from them, so dearly familiar, to a stranger. When we see the face of God we shall know that we have always known it. He has been a party to, has made, sustained and moved moment by moment within, all our earthly experiences of innocent love. All that was true love in them was, even on earth, far more His than ours, and ours only because His. In Heaven there will be no anguish and no duty of turning away from our earthly Beloveds. First, because we shall have turned already; from the portraits to the Original, from the rivulets to the Fountain, from the creatures He made lovable to Love Himself. But secondly, because we shall find them all in Him. By loving Him more than them we shall love them more than we now do.” {C.S. Lewis, The Four Loves}