Awakin Weekly: To Have Without Holding

Email not displaying correctly? View it in your browser.   To Have Without Holding by Marge Piercy [Listen to Audio!] Learning to love differently is hard, love with the hands wide open, love with the doors banging on their hinges, the cupboard unlocked, the wind roaring and whimpering in the rooms rustling the sheets and snapping the blinds that thwack like rubber bands in an open palm. It hurts to love wide open stretching the muscles that feel as if they are made of wet plaster, then of blunt knives, then of sharp knives. It hurts to thwart the reflexes of grab, of clutch; to love and let go again and again. It pesters to remember the lover who is not in the bed, to hold back what is owed to the work that gutters like a candle in a cave without air, to love consciously, conscientiously, concretely, constructively. I can't do it, you say it's killing me, but you thrive, you glow on the street like a neon raspberry, you float and sail, a helium balloon bright bachelor's button blue and bobbing on the cold and hot winds of our breath, as we make and unmake in passionate diastole and systole the rhythm of our unbound bonding, to have and not to hold, to love with minimized malice, hunger and anger moment by moment balanced. Share the Wisdom:          Latest Community Insights  To Have Without Holding What does "loving with the hands wide open" and "having without holding" mean to you? Can you share a personal story where these came to life for you? How can we develop our ability to love consciously, conscientously, concretely and constructively? Kristin Pedemonti wrote:  loving with hands wide open means: not holding too tightly. having no expectations. allowing the other to be who they are. no restrictions. no judgment. not molding the other into a vision we m... Conrad P Pritscher wrote:  There are degrees of development and degrees of love. I believe that if one loves consciously one simultaneously loves conscientiously, loves concretely, and loves constructively. Whoever heard... navin sata wrote: with my limited understanding its hard to put in the words "loving with the hands wide open" yet one can experience,unconditional love in all creation, and silent creator in nature,roaring huge waves... david doane wrote: To me, "Loving with the hands wide open" and "having without holding" means loving without trying to control, possess, limit, change, or manipulate.  It means loving without goal or agenda. ... Amy wrote:  Amen Kristin! ... Amy wrote:  In reading this a second and third time, my heart hurts.  This looks to have been written by a priest, one called to have but not hold "sacramental love".  I'm sensing, the writer's w... Share/Read Reflections >>       Awakin Wednesdays: Many years ago, a couple friends got together to sit in silence for an hour, and share personal aha-moments. That birthed this newsletter, and later became "Wednesdays", which now ripple out to living rooms around the world. To join, RSVP online. Some Good News •  5 Ways to Ease Envy •  Life, Love & Uncle Don's Last Visit •  Turning the Tables on Success Video of the Week •  Outsider Artist Judith Scott Kindness Stories •  A Long Way From Iraq •  Oreo Smiles •  A Cab Filled With Kindness Global call with Dr. Jean Bosco! Join us for a conference call this Saturday, with a global group of ServiceSpace friends and our insightful guest speaker. Join the Forest Call >> About Back in 1997, one person started sending this simple "meditation reminder" to a few friends. Soon after, "Wednesdays" started, ServiceSpace blossomed, and the humble experiments of service took a life of its own. If you'd like to start an Awakin gathering in your area, we'd be happy to help you get started.     InnerNet Weekly is an email service that delivers a little bit of wisdom to 78,591 subscribers each week. We never spam nor do we host any advertising. Archives, from the last 14+ years, are freely available online. You can unsubscribe anytime, within seconds. A Gift Economy offering of ServiceSpace.org (2012)