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Post Info TOPIC: Two Solitudes
Phil


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Two Solitudes
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Today's Gift.



Love consists in this, that two solitudes protect and touch and greet each other.
--Rainer Maria Rilke


For a relationship to be healthy and fulfilling, each of us must respect the other. "Two solitudes" is exactly what we are, and we will never be one, no matter how close we become. It may feel like that at times, but we always remain separate persons with our own thoughts, feelings, dreams, and interests.


When we love one another, we allow each other to be who we are, to have our own lives, for it is out of those separate lives that we bring strength and energy and life into our relationships.


We are meant to honor the differences between us. Often these differences lead to squabbles, but when we recognize that each of us is necessary to the union we have created, we create a better one, far superior to the sum of its parts.


What differences between us make our lives together better?

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"LOVE" devoid of self-gratification, is in essence, the will, to the greatest good...of another.
nmike


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Beautifully written. This is what I struggle with and where my AHsober and I differ. I think our differences made us strong. I have benefitted from our partnership and what we brought to it. He wants to stay in the solitude.


In support,


Nancy



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wallsal55


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  This is so true and helpful.   People change and transform through the drinking and nondrinking stages over the  years.   My husband is somebody new to me--------like a new roommate at college or something.  I have changed to---I have been through and continue to go through many life changes as I try to reach my equilibrium (balance).

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jonibaloni


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Thank you for posting this, Phil.


It really touched me today, coming down off the 'drama' from this weekend that, well, wasn't so dramatic after all.


I have always felt that two otherwise 'empty' people do not necessarily make a 'whole'. As this passage states, we are still 'individuals'. I have learned that to be whole myself, I cannot rely on the other to 'complete me'; I must be completed alone, with something that will indeed fill the void. It is my Higher Power filling that void, so that I may bring to the relationship, and not just take away from.


Thank you for a powerful point to ponder today.


Joni



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