The Wedding

There are three ways to experience emotions. The first way incorporates only your mind, while the other way involves solely your heart. The optimal way to experience emotions, however, is with both your head and your heart simultaneously processing the feelings and thoughts that are fluttering through the core of your being. Only then, when your thoughts and your feelings are wed, can your soul be truly awakened.

  

The Unity of Chaos

The Freedom Tower.

The older I get, the more I realize how complex and unpredictable the world is. Just look at the people around you. We are all inherently confused and uninformed organisms. I think that the majority of people, myself included, often carve out a box consisting of specific ideas and routines. One example of this is a group of tight-knit friends that make a conscious effort to shield each others backs and reciprocate in kind deeds to one another. And while this may sound naive or narrow-minded, if you take a step back and consider the alternative, suddenly rational ignorance doesn't sound all that bad. The only context that I can think of in which we as humans have any morsel of control over our surroundings is that of the home environment. In nearly every other sphere of life, especially in the urban landscape, there are literally millions of factors and forces that affect us on any given day and there is simply no way to even begin to realize all of the variables that are out of our control, much less control the variables themselves. In science they call this an independent variable. In a bittersweet sort of way, the fact that we all live in this chaotic world means that we all go through it together, and thus a sort of harmonious, coalescing vein weaves throughout every individual and to the next, and when we love we are tapping into that communal tie. Chaos knows no social classes or races, since nobody is exempt from havoc. While we as humans may try to convince ourselves that we can determine our own destinies and that we can simply go out there and seize the day, the truth is that we rarely have the luxury to predetermine the outcomes of all the occurrences that take place right before our eyes. The good news is that we have two powerful means of dealing with the events that unceasingly reproduce: the first is reaction, and the second is retrospective. The way we react to something ultimately depends on the attitude that we choose to employ in the situation. If we choose to make the most of the outcomes, regardless of whether or not it is the ideal one, then the outcome will have been fully expedited and therefore stewarded to the best of our abilities. The other tool with which we can clarify this unclear world is retrospective. Hind-sight is 20-20, so remember that it always pays off to look back on the things we experience and learn from them what we can.

I want to conclude by sharing with you a couple of quotes that I feel are both relevant and encouraging.

"The curious tasks of economics is to demonstrate to men how little they really know about what they imagine they can design." F.A. Hayek

"I have told you these things so that in me you may have peace. In this world you will have trouble. But take heart! I have overcome the world." John 16:33

Jack and Jill

In the book, Love's Labour's Lost, Shakespeare concludes that "Jack hath not Jill." (5.2.390) Interestingly, Shakespeare also says in A Midsummer Night's Dream, "Jack shall have Jill." (3.2.461). Perhaps Shakespeare was addressing the multi-faceted nature of true love through his writing.

The Rough Course of Love

Shakespeare poetically summarized a quite simple fact that is oft forgotten: "The course of true love never did run smooth." What does this mean? It means that true love isn't really as perfect as Hollywood makes it seem. People often picture themselves as one of the lovers in a romantic movie, and when that person steps back into the real world and experiences true love, they are shocked that it isn't as smooth as the movies make it out to be.

So why is it so hard for two people of the opposite sex to connect and fall in love, and why does it so often end up in an unideal way? Same reason people argue and dispute. As humans go through their day to day lives, they are welding together the infrastructure of their very beings. Each person has a unique and dramatically different view on life and on relationships than the next. Thus, for two people to understand where the other is coming from, to see each other in the light of authenticity, and to get out there and radiate their essence takes a lot of time and communication. If you're the type of person who has a 'To-Do' list, the task of spending time with your special someone should be cemented into your list.