Falling in love is an enchanted experience

[Luna Arjuna]

Falling in love is an enchanted experience, a sudden eruption of colour in a previously black-and-white world. The alchemy of love transforms the ordinary into the mystical and the mundane into the charmed. Routine encounters suddenly occur as rich in nuance and possibility and commonplace tasks take on new meaning and depth. Yet, just as easy as we are caught up in this cyclone of delight, we can also be dropped from the sky with nothing but the cold, hard earth to break our fall . . . . Love does not promise to heal all wounds and make straight all crooked paths. Rather, love will often escort you straight into the most wounded parts of yourself, leading you round and round in some strange circuitous route right into the heart of disaster.

It is better, therefore, to separate the magic of enchantment from the experience of falling in love. We need to know that the mystical heights to which we aspire are not necessarily dependent upon any one person or any one kind of relationship.

Love must be regarded as less the phenomenon of a particular connection, and more as a state of heart, body, mind, and soul that we are seeking to attain. For it is this intensely alive state of being, this thriving and optimistic perspective on life that we enviously long for as we surreptitiously observe new lovers at play. We yearn to be so naive, so happy, so connected, and so inspired. It is the brass ring, the gold medal, the Academy Award, and the Pulitzer Prize rolled up into one. Its source is not necessarily to be found in a lover, however. Its source can be found within each and every one of us.

~ Katherine Woodward Thomas
Art: Catrin Welz-Stein