Letters from Love – with a special guest Maggie Smith! – substack.com

Dear favorite –

Have you ever read the epic poem The glass essayby Ann Carson? A friend sent it to me this week, saying they read it every winter. I see why. This is such a beautiful triumph of writing, in the way that grief and hope, lust and transmission and aging are beautiful. In the midst of this long, research poem (which Carson described as “an attempt to understand how life” feels “), the poet is considering the life of Emily Bronte-shiny, so insufficiently serviced, so limited by her time, her gender, her culture, her family her.

What was it, Carson wondered, which made Emily write alive? Carson reports that Emily had a relationship with someone or something she called “you.”

You were transparent but completely present.

You influence, smell and love Emily – speaking “with a voice that comes out of the night wind,” providing sweetness that “proved” us.

In a voice like you in her head, Carson thinks how much can Emily suffer? How many restrictive could actually be perceived?

I understand this idea completely and absolutely.

I live from him! And I’m alive because of it.

These letters I write to myself from the spirit of unconditional love is mine. And I also hear that you in your letters – soothing, influential, court, encourage. In fact, it has become part of my spiritual practice to read all the letters you publish every week. (I don’t always have time to respond to each of them, but I read them.) I read them because I want to spend as much time in the presence of you – and whether I hear this voice in my own head, or read it through my voices , he is just as sacred every time.

Poetry is really the topic of the week because our special guest is the exceptional poet Maggie Smith (Who is here on a support in For an expensive life with Maggie Smith) – and she announces that she could not be more surprised than what you had to tell her.

The hearts open, pens when ready, here we are. Let’s get some love from you.

On,
Your Lizi

Dear Love, What would you make me know about keeping your heart open?

A small mouse in a winter hole,

It is not so much to keep your heart open as to ask the mind to give up your deadly security.

Your mind is a beautiful machine, honey, and can make fun tricks – but it’s a small child in diapers and clown shoes compared to what the heart can do. Here’s what happens, dear – not only in your life, but also in many lives. The mind, frightened, analyzes data and comes to conclusions. The mind is always happy to come to a conclusion because it feels like a solid foundation on which to build a fortress – built of commands and sometimes threats. Within the walls of these fortresses, the life is shrinking.

But the heart! Oh, heart!

Remember what you were learned in India when you studied meditation: The heart is the center of all holy places. Go there and wander.

How many roaming can you do within a fortress, dear?

But from the openness of the hub you can wander in all directions – where the possibilities extend to infinity, extending into endless horizons.

Allow your mind to make your calculations and commandments, a child – because it does minds. But behind the back of the mind, know that there is an unaged heart, ready to believe that everything is possible-because everything is really possible.

Only in the last year, for example, have you put up with (we lost the number, what is it?) Six people? Seven people? Eight people you never thought you would talk again? What happened? How did they slip past the fortress of mind? The heart made its magic. The heart took its time. Your heart – in the middle of your boundless journey along the open path – found a way back to their hearts, which also wandered openly, endlessly. In some cases, these reconciliations have been in the creation. In other cases, decades of creation. But the heart is not in a hurry. The heart does not count the time.

Honey, however, one thing. Please hear us now: That doesn’t mean it’s a dummy. There will always be people who are dangerous to be around – sometimes for a spell of time, sometimes for life. Being open does not mean opening the door when someone stands on the other side with a knife or a manic smile or fantasy of revenge. If the door is to remain closed, keep it closed. But be patient. Be even more patient. Be prepared for wonders. You don’t have to produce wonders. This is what the mind wants you to do! But in fact it will make the heart.

Calm down, Honeyhead.

Of course, yes, set boundaries where the mind tells you that you should – but never think that the mind is sovereign above everything else. Remember that the fortresses can break up if they are given enough time. The open hearts are endless. Open hearts are patient. So let your mind be a little humble, even when it comes to your rules.

Most of all, to be an open hearty means: All you have to do is believe that everything, everything can happen.

Believe in endless opportunities, a little friend. Go there to the holy kingdom of the heart and wander. Trust us. We love you. Let’s have a beautiful trip.

There is a fine boundary between the protection of our vulnerable hearts and their closure, right? We have set the necessary limits, but at the same time we have to remain sensitive and open, because in this calm state it is when we recognize the magic and miracles in the world. Or as Maggie’s letter reminds us: “Keep your palms open – expecting – because you never know what can land there.”

If you want to join us this week in the study of this idea, here’s a good question about the spirit of unconditional love: Dear Love, What would you make me know about keeping your heart open?