Subtlety, Intimacy, Motivation VIII

So what's the bridge between suffering and intimacy? Gurus have stated it already, and God (in His infinite wisdom having decided to show us our potential but rarely show Himself to fools more directly) or Reality already includes the potential. It isn't something divine and excluded from where we're already at. It's so apparent and simple that people sometimes need to be told, "Those who have eyes should see; those with ears should hear." In Zen, "I eat when hungry, sleep when tired."

As I get closer and closer with my girl, different parts of myself that want to remain separate in certain ways keep coming up. Every boundary may eventually need to be considered and possible crossed. It may be that most or all of these boundaries only exist to the extent I hold onto them.

It's fascinating to me how, when I felt the emotional context I was in to be more threatening, these boundaries seemed both more real and more important. As I continue to work on subtlety and resilience in my consciousness within this intimate context, I keep finding myself less willing to pour my light and heat into the boundary-making process. I have less and less of my self and time to commit to hate and avoidance. It's nice for me, it's obvious in some ways because I've got it good. But it becomes more and more apparent on a global stage and a personal one that we are all unavoidably intimate whether we choose or reject that.

The better I become at being able to withdraw my energy and attention from suffering and distance, the more important connection becomes. The energy that right now goes into my boundary-making is also the energy for change and openness and subtle, resilient intimacy. All that is kind of fluffy and nice, but there is a potency too. As I allow boundaries to drop, the subtlety, intimacy, and motivation feed into one another and move closer to oneness.