Posts Tagged: Rainer Maria Rilke
“We are All in this Together—and We are All Alone”
One of my 12-step readings this morning started with the following epigraph:
“Love consists in this, that two solitudes protect and touch and greet each other.
—Rainer Maria Rilke”
Love is the only thing that is strong enough to embrace both our solitude and togetherness.
We are hearing variations of the slogan “We are all in this together” a lot these days. We are hearing it far more than we are living it out. Careful, elderly people like me are prone to judge those who don’t wear masks. Those who don’t wear masks are apt to do the same toward those who do. There are moments when I wish someone would speak (or shout) the truth:
WE ARE NOT IN THIS TOGETHER!
But there is something that combines our essential solitude and our equally essential togetherness. And that thing is love.
Love is not to be reserved for those who are like us. In fact, if I reserve love for only those who are “like me,” I will love no one at all. Nobody is really all that much like me. My wife and I are so different and disagree about so many things. If love were about likeness, we would hate one another. We are indeed two solitudes.
And yet . . . And yet, we two solitudes protect and touch and greet one another. We love.
But love can draw wider circles. Love doesn’t have to be limited to one person. Oh, yes, I agree: There are special relationships that are exclusive in how they are lived out. My wife is very special to me, and I to her.
On the other hand, love—as distinct from its individual and unique expressions—can grow to be as big as the Pacific Ocean. My wife’s and my relationship is a quiet and sheltered bay where we can be safe, where we can be together in our solitudes. But we need to venture out into the wider, wilder waters on a regular basis. Otherwise, the bay may become a stinky, stagnant swamp.
So, we are all in this together after all. We just need to live out that togetherness in a creative way that respects our own solitude and the solitude of others.
DOWN TO EARTH BELIEVER
- DTEB, “Getting Christ and Ourselves Back in Focus” November 11, 2024“Col. 3:1 ¶ If then you have been raised with Christ, seek the things that are above, where Christ is, seated at the right hand of God. Col. 3:2 Set your minds on things that are above, not on things that are on earth. Col. 3:3 For you have died, and your life is hidden […]
- “Search Me!” October 27, 2024“Psa. 139:23 Search me, O God, and know my heart! Try me and know my thoughts! 24 And see if there be any grievous way in me, and lead me in the way everlasting!” (Psalm 139:23-24, English Standard Version) I am participating in a Bible study, and this is a prayer […]
- “Christian Speech” October 26, 2024“Eph. 4:29 Let no corrupting talk come out of your mouths, but only such as is good for building up, as fits the occasion, that it may give grace to those who hear.” Foulkes, in his excellent commentary on the Book of Ephesians, writes the following, which I quote at some length: “29. Now the […]
- “God is in the Details” October 11, 2024“The devil is in the details.” (A general saying, often quoted by lawyers, reporters, and negotiators.) “God is in the details.” (Me, almost certainly not original.) “Luke 12:7 Why, even the hairs of your head are all numbered. Fear not; you are of more value than many sparrows.” (Jesus) God does not micromanage, but God […]
- “Grandma’s Pump” October 8, 2024When I was a little critter, I would stay at my grandma’s house for a night or two sometimes. I liked this for a lot for many reasons. One thing I liked about staying with her was that Grandma’s house was much more technologically advanced than ours was. For one thing, she had indoor water—sort […]
- “Wearing the #14 Wrong-Side-Out” October 5, 2024Pete Rose, #14, is dead. Many of the old guys with whom I play softball watched him play and appreciated him greatly. I do as well. He was one of the greatest players who ever played the game. Yes, he admitted (eventually) to betting on baseball. But many of us still regard him as one […]
- “Passing Along the Love (and a Link)” October 4, 2024Several years ago, a friend of mine put me onto a daily meditation by Richard Rohr and friends. I don’t read them all the time, but I probably should. They are good! I thought that today’s writing was especially good, and I also figured that this would be a good way to post something. I […]
- “Witnessing Versus Being Witnesses” September 19, 2024“Acts 1:1 In the first book, O Theophilus, I have dealt with all that Jesus began to do and teach, Acts 1:2 until the day when he was taken up, after he had given commands through the Holy Spirit to the apostles whom he had chosen. Acts 1:3 He presented himself alive to them after […]
- “A Bathroom Prayer for Hurting Hands” September 11, 2024A week ago Sunday, my hands were hurting so badly at church that I went to the bathroom to run hot water over my hands. Arthritis perhaps, or carpal tunnel, or general orneriness—I don’t know why my hands hurt, but they do. They have for years. So, while I was running hot water over my […]
- “Waiting and Seeking” September 10, 2024“Lam. 3:19 ¶ Remember my affliction and my wanderings, the wormwood and the gall! Lam. 3:20 My soul continually remembers it and is bowed down within me. Lam. 3:21 But this I call to mind, and therefore I have hope: Lam. 3:22 ¶ The steadfast love of the LORD […]
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