What’s love got to do with it? Pt. 2
MINDFUL MOMENTS # 147
I want to tell you a story about the origin of love.
In the beginning, there were three types of humans: male, female and androgenous. Each was round, with four hands, four legs and two faces. Because of this, they were strong and a threat to the gods. Zeus decided to cut them all in half to reduce their strength.
But in so doing, each part was no longer whole. Each part longed for its other half - whether male or female. Those who found their half would stay as one, never separating, even if it meant suffering a single death.
So it is written in Plato’s Symposium.
Aristophanes concludes that we must all bring love to its perfect conclusion, thus recovering our original nature.
The lasting message from this tale is that “love is the pursuit of wholeness”.
We also learn through Aristophanes’ speech, that love is love, regardless of gender.
Ahead of Valentine’s day, are we therefore not complete if we are “single”?
It’s not a popular opinion, and it’s not one I willingly subscribe to either: I believe each of us is enough. In yoga philosophy, we learn that our true nature is whole and perfect and complete.
But what I do believe in is that we all need love.
It may not be the pursuit of our “better half” or “other half”, but simply the pursuit of love.
We were not designed to exist in isolation. We have always lived in community and in tribes. We are programmed to reproduce and grow and, in this way, mitotically divide ourselves.
We are all in relationship with each other and with our planet, as much as we are with ourselves.
In the words of Emily Nagoski (Come As You Are) “why we fall in love is attachment, which is sort of a biological pursuit of wholeness”.
Attachment is love. Whether secure, anxious or avoidant, we learn about love through the nature of our attachment. We are biologically driven to form attachment.
Seek independence and self-sufficency and the ability to be in relationship with yourself. But as much as we seek to understand our own worth and value, we understand that we will always be part of something much bigger than ourselves and that in our day-to-day life - in the stories we write with each other; in the conversations we have and the smiles we share - we are all in pursuit of love.
Mindful moment: How do you show love to the world? How do you seek to nurture your relationship with the people you work with, live with and encounter? How does nature show its love? Is love really all around? In what ways are you in pursuit of love? What do you think about Aristophanes’ speech?
YOGA
Mindful Movement
Join us every Saturday from 11am-12.15 at the Cornerstone Community Centre in Hove for an all-levels vinyasa yoga flow class, meditation and mindfulness (mats provided or bring your own).
£6 per class or £24 for 5.
Upcoming classes: 10th. I am away abroad until the end of March; classes will resume April 6th.
“I sometimes have a queer feeling with regard to you especially when you are near me, as now: it is as if I had a string somewhere under my left ribs, tightly and inextricably knotted to a similar string situated in the corresponding quarter of your little frame.”
Mindful moment: Happy Valentine’s to you. May all your thoughts, words and actions come from a place of love and kindness.
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Welcome to the Community.
I'm Laura, a yoga teacher and NHS doctor. With this weekly newsletter I aim to help you incorporate mindful moments into your week. I want you to feel inspired, empowered and creative. I promise to always be authentic; to only include content that speaks to me and which, therefore, I hope will do the same for you.
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