Love

The Role of a Lifetime

Michael Douglas, USA

(Submitted by the author and originally published in 'The Art of Living')

It’s hard to balance work and family. I work in an industry that has a relatively short window of opportunity, extremely long hours and can take you away from home for months at a time. The rewards can be fantastic: fame, wealth, artistic gratification, never standing in line for a table at a restaurant. But the guilt of shortchanging your family can gnaw away at you.

Sunshine

Nathaniel Hawthorne, USA

(Submitted by Amy Vidal, USA)

Love, whether newly born, or aroused from a deathlike slumber, must always create sunshine, filling the heart so full of radiance, that it overflows upon the outward world.

In silence

Brit'ne Julyan, USA

(Submitted by the author)

In silence you create me gradually,
as a wind invariably creates a mood.

You hold my evolution to the day,
translating the purpose of the past
to an impression of no consequence,
you arrest my profound uncertainty.

Regarding the pretense of my demeanor
with absolute recognition,
you remain captivated by what cannot be perceived,
allowing that which is inseparable,
providing a place

Where, grounded in your essence I venture,
realize the inconceivable
and journey in your most even moments

Where there is love

Mahatma Gandhi, India

(Submitted by Claire Stevens, Canada)

Where there is love, there is life.

Why do we fall in love

David Servan-Schreiber, France

(Submitted by the Art of Living Team)

Michael is a well-known New York psychotherapist. He’s 45 and recently divorced. Since he’s a therapist and understands the importance of positive thinking, he describes himself as “in between relationships.” A rational man but a romantic at heart, Michael is keen to fall in love again. I asked him what he’s learned about the stormy relationships between men and women that will help him find someone new. Why do we fall in love?

Why it is wise to worship a woman

Arjuna Ardagh, England

(Submitted by Helen Elizabeth Evans, Swaziland)

A few days ago, after a particularly exquisite evening with my wife Chameli, I put this post up on Facebook before going to bed: “I have had many, many great teachers in my life. A super abundance. No one and nothing comes close to the woman who is now asleep in the bedroom. My marriage has become the guru, the salvation, the muse, the crack through which the divine shines through.”

Walking Marriages

Yang Erche Namu, Lake Lugu, Eastern Himalayas, China.

(Submitted by The Art of Living Team)

In our Moso language there are no words for husband, wife, jealousy or fidelity; women make all the decisions about who they go with and who they stay with. A man may be an azhu, a close male friend, but that’s as close as we get to any form of marital obligation.

Cherry trees

Pablo Neruda, Chile

(Submitted by Claudio Mittening, Chile)

I want to do with you what spring does with the cherry trees.

A magnificent interweaving

Michel Houellebecq, France

(Submitted by Céline Lambert, France)

Love binds while evil unravels. Separation is another word for evil; it is also another word for deceit. All that exists is a magnificent interweaving, vast and reciprocal.