Bad Boys

[Steph_rivers]

@jacygirl ,
I just want to say that I am grateful for threads like this. They are painful to read, and excellent for reflection.

You are not an entertainment piece for display to judge and ridicule, but for us to learn. And you volunteered yourself willingly to do said learning, whether you were aware of it or not. You are not the first, by far.

Threads like this have changed my life, especially when interacting with people in real life because I get to see my own impulsive duality attempt to emerge, yet every day I have been getting stronger at not letting elephant I ride shake the bottle fizz and overflow out from its spout.

Because of reflection to threads like this, I can use my awareness and consciousness to make the best decisions of interaction with those I love most in my life, and FINALLY take into consideration what they see about me that hurts them or enrages them, while having the knowledge to see the gray line between genuine concern from someone and manipulation from them, that they themselves are not even aware of.

My childhood friend just told me today that I’ve changed. That he feels like I’m no longer cold, rigid, and so angry. He feels like he can approach me and can feel some welcoming aura around me that I’ve never had before. Even stated something about my physical appearance being lighter. I took that to heart because he doesn’t like telling me things that that. We’ve always fought because we have felt a very strong insecurity with each other since the conception of our friendship. I can only assume that the external world is recognizing some kind of change in my inner landscape.

This is what I have learned and continue to learn from threads like this. I invite you to take a long look at everyone’s struggles here with themselves and how they’ve used this network to grow. The mods and admins may appear rude or “authoritative”, but this isn’t their first rodeo. They remind us what the C’s told them/us: “You are not special”.

But we can build something special, with ourselves and others, in my opinion.

 

[Wandering Star]

This is what I have learned and continue to learn from threads like this. I invite you to take a long look at everyone’s struggles here with themselves and how they’ve used this network to grow. The mods and admins may appear rude or “authoritative”, but this isn’t their first rodeo. They remind us what the C’s told them/us: “You are not special”.

You don't need validation of course, but I have to say that I really liked your comment.

Very elegant, I appreciate it.

 

[jacygirl]

I'm having trouble finding words today (I know, me really?). Someone said I'd had an epiphany, and yes I actually did.
Too much to put into words here and now, so I'm just going to say this.

I learned much more about the necessity for balance. Why the middle road is necessary. That fire and water may compete for power, but one extinguishes the other. It's balance too. Neither is good nor bad, yet either when surged with great power have the ability to destroy.

I wandered off into left field for a bit. I was being 'guided' back to the middle road. Apparently I headed back around to left field because I still hadn't learned my lesson du jour. Again I was 'nudged' back. So I took a break went 'higher' to get a clearer view of what I was obviously missing.

The power behind the nudging/guiding was neither negative or positive...or perhaps some of both. Neither are good or bad, both are necessary. This place obviously was meant to happen, for me and maybe even others. I have learned something of great value and will proceed with further clarity.

But the not so subtle irony of the name "Bad Boys" and the conversations about labelling/assuming, and what/who makes a girl or boy good or bad...well that does not escape my notice. If this is the Universe laughing at me, now is where you 'drop the mic'.

 

[BHelmet]

I know I said I’d back off for a while but completing what’s in this thread is a prerequisite for me.

I think we certainly used to discuss Gurdjieff a lot more and use his models and ideas; but were there more advice/mirroring threads because we talked more about the fourth way Work, or did we talk more about the fourth way and working on seeing oneself objectively and trusting the group/mirror, because there were more advice/mirroring threads?

This is right on the money, IMO. The question arises, why? Or maybe better: What types of interactions have crowded out the 4th Way?

A few years ago I analyzed the busiest threads and their subject matter when I first started sensing what you point out, T.C. What became apparent was that geopolitics, health and the weather predominated to a huge degree (85-90% plus). COVID was a significant explanation for the spike.

Lately the health threads are much less prevalent and “hot” and, without actually running the numbers, the dominant themes are geopolitical/political and anticipation/predictions about the future and, naturally, the weather and health to a lesser degree. (The general sense I get) I have no judgement about this: it just is what it is. The discrepancy is thinking “I’m all about 4th way inner and outer development and observation” while mainly talking about Trump, the WEF, Ukraine, Gaza and what are the psychics and astrologers and “political analysts” predictions for humanity. I don’t mean to say that it is a mistake to talk about any of those things, only that they may be predominating and crowding out the esoterica which could have a perceptual effect of some kind.

As for the admins and mods, that probably isn’t an easy job and I’ve only ever had one real complaint/confusion about the handling of stuff and that was the benkostka deal where I actually think the mods were too lenient (and not the other way around). But otherwise, it’s a non issue for me. This forum certainly has the right to police itself however it sees fit! Of course!

 

[Mari]

What types of interactions have crowded out the 4th Way?

Well, this thread might have been exactly that; how can women recognise pathological men. Women on this forum could help with books they´ve read or things they did, and exchange experience for the benefit of others.
A parallel thread could have been formed on "bad girls" where men could do the same.
We all could have benefit form both male and female perspective on things.

It is the core of the 4th way; how not to get yourself into toxic relationships and how to recognise if you are in one. This whole topic is part of the Wave series, there are books in recommended reading list, there are many threads on the forum.
Of course, time goes on and we know more from research and experience, so reviving old threads or opening new ones and asking questions and sharing and networking is exactly 4th Way of doing things.

Instead, what we´ve got here in this thread is that it has at least 4 different topics jammed into one thread, and this thread should probably be renamed to "What´s currently on my mind" as none of the topics were really discussed; it feels as it all was just posted here as a click byte so someone can jump in and continue "let´s chat on all and nothing", and when people actually did - puf! let´s switch to something else now. Frankly, it all got very draining. And that´s also the problem. Conversation should enrich all sides involved and not give boost to one side and drain all the others.

...mainly talking about Trump, the WEF, Ukraine, Gaza...

Part of the 4th Way Work is also to see trough lies and deceptions and to see (as much as possible) objective reality.
It is exactly what the Cs said:

A: ...People who pay strict attention to objective reality right and left, become the reality of the "Future."

Same goes for weather phenomena.

Health is important because one has to keep his/hers machine running in as optimal state as possible so one can (eventually) do the spiritual work. Also, if one´s mind is not processing information's clearly and/or person is running the same old programs, how will that person see the world´s events in objective way?

Cassiopaean Session Transcripts Search

cassiopaeatranscripts.org

A: Just work daily at becoming more aware on three levels

1. Body and immediate environment,
2. Wider world affairs,
3. Cosmos and spirit.

Q: (L) Shouldn't "spirit" go with "Body and immediate environment"?

A: No, it is via the first steps that one achieves cosmic consciousness.

Q: (L) I don't understand.

(Chu) You have to work on the body and environment, and then understand the wider world at first. And then you can develop cosmic consciousness and spirit.

(L) Oooh. So in other words, to achieve cosmic consciousness, i.e. true spiritual advancement, you have to expand your field of vision to be very wide?

A: Exactly. Those who suggest that you must look only within live in a singular bubble.

See, it´s all connected...

 

[Ricardo]

" A parallel thread could have been formed on "bad girls" where men could do the same. " , quick tips for the young 'uns , no unnatural colored hair , ( the men side of the interwebs that address this issue on a regular basis calls them poisonous dart frogs XD ), facial metal gear , tatoos , and/or extra long fake nails , all superficial observations ofc, but it does remove most toxic potential at the outset , which helps.

 

[BHelmet]

I think a better job needs to be done with the definitions. Again - what makes one a "bad boy"? Is it being problematic for a calm and passive ordered accepted normalcy? Is it An irresponsible response (or an immature response) to perceived or real hypocrisy and lies? Intensionally (or mechanically) disruptive - yes...but why? In the US, during Viet Nam, the protesters were viewed as bad boys by "the only good Red is dead" crowd. Were they really bad boys or just individuals standing up for a different perspective? The original notion of this thread was that bad boys are derived from "bad" parenting and circumstances and that the "bad" part is subjective. There is certainly something to that.

Are bad boys just the subjects of automatic unconscious behavior or is there a kernel of validity and objectivity to the behavior? Contrarians can get that label. All the COVID rebels and Vax deniers were "bad boys and girls" in the eyes of the established approved narrators. Assuming a bad boy is easily and immediately recognizable and categorizable may not be quite correct. It IS a broad stereotype, that much is certain. I think there are different types and distinctions of bad boys that make generalizations difficult. Once again the devil is in the details and the details should be examined.

 

[T.C.]

I don’t mean to say that it is a mistake to talk about any of those things, only that they may be predominating and crowding out the esoterica which could have a perceptual effect of some kind.

The thing is, actual, i.e. practical, esoterica is a means to an end, not an end in itself, meaning that it is foundational to being able to grasp and understand other things.

This goes to kind of reinforce what I said in my previous post. Basically if a group that is primarily focused on esoterica spends most of their time discussing ostensibly exoteric subjects (but in a very particular way; holistic and contextual) then that should be a sign that said group has advanced, beyond the mundane.

And again, this highlights the problem for new members, that it will be very difficult for them to jump in to Work and discussions with such a group when they are working with what we have referred to in the past as, the ‘juvenile dictionary’.

I’m sorry to say it, but I think that ultimately, whether one is able to grasp objective assessments of one’s own character and the world in general is simply reliant on whether or not one has a soul. I can’t think of any other qualitative marker that could actually account for the experience of realising such levels of truth and in turn being able to express, convey and converse on such topics and matters with the requisite depth that is proper to them.

Without the soul, a person would be left just giving vague statements which skirt around the subject of conversation at hand without actually addressing any of the points raised, due to the innate inability to grasp the real crux of the matter.

 

[Ricardo]

" I’m sorry to say it, but I think that ultimately, whether one is able to grasp objective assessments of one’s own character and the world in general is simply reliant on whether or not one has a soul. I can’t think of any other qualitative marker that could actually account for the experience of realising such levels of truth and in turn being able to express, convey and converse on such topics and matters with the requisite depth that is proper to them."

Agreed , pretty much how OP's can be described as "the dead burying the dead" , their words are always, unmet , of significance , when contemplated.

 

[BHelmet]

Instead, what we´ve got here in this thread is that it has at least 4 different topics jammed into one thread,

There is another way of looking at this: I think I have seen a trend of thread ideas commingling like parallel universes. Differing thread topics can have recurrent themes that cross reference each other. I look at this as an effect of the Wave approaching and 4D thinking leaking through. It has become harder for ideas to conveniently be contained into neat linear organized boxes.

Health is important because one has to keep his/hers machine running in as optimal state as possible so one can (eventually) do the spiritual work. Also, if one´s mind is not processing information's clearly and/or person is running the same old programs, how will that person see the world´s events in objective way?

See, it´s all connected...

Yes I do see it is connected and I think that is exactly why things are merging and the lines are being blurred. BTW, what I am saying is not meant as a justification for anything. Certainly geopolitics and health etc are all important topics. My rhetorical question is more like - where is the energy being put? Is it disproportionate? What are the objective stats and do they say something? Maybe nothing at all but it a potential error to assume anything without at least looking.

It is like the phone app that says "You have spent 17 more hours this week looking at me". There is undoubtedly a reason, and that is an objective fact. To say, well, it's OK, I'm doing important stuff without really examining just what exactly the time and energy is being spent on is a potential blind spot.

Is this thread all over the place? Yes! There is no denying that. But is there a deeper reason? I am not sure that saying this has got to stop is totally the right takeaway.

One last thing: it is hard to measure the 4th way content since it is very often interspersed in so many different threads just like it is here. So there is that too.

 

[Alejo]

My rhetorical question is more like - where is the energy being put? Is it disproportionate? What are the objective stats and do they say something? Maybe nothing at all but it a potential error to assume anything without at least looking.

I think you make a valid point, namely different people join this forum for different reasons and with different interests, that is they come here because they noticed great discussion on a topic of interest to them, COVID, health, geopolitics, UFOs whatever it may be... and it's fair to allow that discussion to take place, it benefits both the forum and the participant, this is an open forum and the more the merrier. This shows however, when the dissonance with those who may only focus on one topic encounter the other foundational tenets of the forum in practice, and difficulties arise because the forum, more than policing, is trying to remind someone of something they're not familiar with, not aware of and perhaps might not even entirely agree with.

So, the solution to that is perhaps, the most practical, expect that those who join have read through the forum guidelines and the purpose of the forum, and if not then remind them. And hope that the path that the founders of the forum have transited may inspire in others to follow a similar one and embrace similar principles. I do not know if there's any other way truly. And it has worked consistently in the past, I am one example of this, came looking for cool info on UFOs and have learned so much ever since, my world view completely transformed, so it can happen, and it's a two way relationship, the forum continues to do what it does best, the other half is every individual member.

 

[Alejo]

Are bad boys just the subjects of automatic unconscious behavior or is there a kernel of validity and objectivity to the behavior? Contrarians can get that label. All the COVID rebels and Vax deniers were "bad boys and girls" in the eyes of the established approved narrators. Assuming a bad boy is easily and immediately recognizable and categorizable may not be quite correct. It IS a broad stereotype, that much is certain. I think there are different types and distinctions of bad boys that make generalizations difficult. Once again the devil is in the details and the details should be examined.

I think it depends on the specific woman, at the specific level, but also... Bad Boy is probably a person that offers a woman an experience that is irresistible to her but objectively dangerous to her well being or stability, that confuses her at several levels, physiological, emotional and intellectually, because of how similar the experience of submission to a trusted loved one is to the experience of being frozen with fear, in both practice and intensity.

Then what happens after that in order to keep those relationships going, the thrill, fear, manipulation and so on... that's a whole another conversation.

 

[Mari]

I think a better job needs to be done with the definitions. Again - what makes one a "bad boy"? ...... Assuming a bad boy is easily and immediately recognizable and categorizable may not be quite correct. It IS a broad stereotype, that much is certain. I think there are different types and distinctions of bad boys that make generalizations difficult. Once again the devil is in the details and the details should be examined.

That is the problem - most of the time, they are NOT immediately recognizable, but there are signs that women can pay attention to. When one starts exploring about character disturbance and pathology, it makes it easier to recognise the signs.
Each of the person you´ve listed above can be "bad" or not at all. What you listed is stereotyping while it all depends whether there is an underlying pathology to the man (or woman) or not.

You might want to check the book Character Disturbance: The Phenomenon of Our Age by George K. Simon for a general overview.

S. Brown categorises Dangerous Men as follows:

Categories of Dangerous Men

My years of working with dangerous men and the women who get involved with them have led me to observe that dangerous men generally fall into certain categories. Let me introduce you to eight hotties who are dying to meet you:

1. The permanent clinger: He is a needy, victim-based man who will give a woman a lot of attention in return for all of his needs being met all of the time. He fears rejection above all else, so he is jealous of other people in your life. He asks you to give up your outside life and make him your only life. He convinces women that he has been wounded and that the woman can love him into wellness if she will focus only on him. He may even threaten to harm himself or “never get over” being wounded if you don’t do what he asks of you. Women have the overwhelming sensation of “having the life sucked out of them” by these men.

2. The parental seeker: He wants a parent, not a partner. He needs you so much. In fact, he needs you to run his entire life for him. It is hard for him to do adult things like go to work, make decisions, be consistent, or act grown-up. He will shower you with lots of adoration, but he has very low functioning capabilities.

3. The emotionally unavailable man: He is married, separated, engaged, or dating someone else. He usually presents himself as “unhappy with” or “not quite out of” a relationship, and he is more than willing to keep you on the side. Another type of emotionally unavailable man is the man who is preoccupied with his career, educational goals, hobbies, or other interests, to the exclusion of ever having a true interest in a long-term relationship. With the emotionally unavailable man, there is always a reason why he can’t fully commit to you, but he’s usually happy to keep stringing you along. After all, the situation is still convenient for him as long as you’re willing to keep seeing him or sleeping with him on a “casual” basis despite the fact that he can’t or won’t get involved in a serious relationship with you.

4. The man with the hidden life: He has undisclosed other lives that might include women, children, jobs, life-threatening addictions, criminal behavior, disease, or other histories that remain unrevealed to you. You only find out about these hidden lives way too late in the relationship, at which time you are already at risk.

5. The mentally ill man: He can look normal on the outside, but after dating him for a while it becomes obvious that “something is amiss.” Most women lack the training to know exactly what is wrong, but depending on his diagnosis he may be able to convince you to stay, seeming healthy enough to deflect attention away from his mental illness. He may hold you emotionally hostage by saying that “everyone” abandons him, or he may wreak such havoc and create such instability in your life that you can’t find a way to get out.

6. The addict: Most women do not recognize up front that he has an addiction problem. Some women never see the addiction, or they mistake it for his being a “fun-seeking kind of guy.” This “fun” can include sex, pornography, drugs, alcohol, thrill-seeking behavior, gambling, food, or relationships.

7. The abusive or violent man: He starts out as very attentive and giving. But then Mr. Hyde appears— controlling, blaming, shaming, harming, perhaps hitting. Women who think abuse comes only in the form of a physical assault may miss warning signs of other kinds of abuse. Abuse can be verbal, emotional, spiritual, financial, physical, or sexual, or it can be abuse of the system to get his way. (Each of these is described in Chapter 9.) With an abusive or violent man, anything goes when he decides he’s in control, and he will always be in control. And abusive or violent behavior always gets worse over time. What may have started out in the first months of your relationship as occasional name-calling may eventually escalate into a life-threatening assault. Men who kill their partners don’t usually do so on the first date. It happens after months or years of a woman putting up with violence that grows worse and worse. How far his abuse and violence goes is dictated only by his imagination and your continued presence.

8. The emotional predator: This pathological man has a sixth sense about women and knows how to play to a woman’s woundedness. Although his motives might be to prey on a woman’s financial or sexual vulnerabilities (to name just a couple), he’s called the “emotional” predator because he hunts for his victims by targeting their emotional vulnerabilities. He can sense women who have recently been dumped, who are lonely, or who are emotionally or sexually needy. He is a chameleon and can be whatever any woman needs him to be. He is very tuned in to women’s body and eye language as well as to the subtle messages behind their words. He can pick up on hints about a woman’s life and turn himself into what she needs in the moment. These men can turn out to be lethal.

There’s also a type of dangerous man that I refer to as the combo-pack man. This is any man who fits the criteria for more than one of the categories listed above. For instance, an addict may also be violent, or a man with a hidden life may also be an addict. Addicts are almost always emotionally unavailable. Clingers and seekers almost always have interwoven mental-illness issues. Emotional predators always have a hidden life, because hiding what they do is half the fun. Many combinations are possible, and some are fairly predictable. Women need to understand that the more categories a man falls into, the more dangerous he is. Each category brings its own pitfalls and symptoms that make that type of man a bad dating choice. But add another category, another pitfall, and another list of symptoms, and you have a man unlikely to ever get it together. The deck is stacked against him.

Brown, Sandra L.. How to Spot a Dangerous Man Before You Get Involved: Describes 8 Types of Dangerous Men, Gives Defense Strategies and a Red Alert Checklist for Each, and (Kindle Locations 430-439). Kindle Edition.

 

[Ricardo]

That is the problem - most of the time, they are NOT immediately recognizable, but there are signs that women can pay attention to. When one starts exploring about character disturbance and pathology, it makes it easier to recognise the signs.
Each of the person you´ve listed above can be "bad" or not at all. What you listed is stereotyping while it all depends whether there is an underlying pathology to the man (or woman) or not.

You might want to check the book Character Disturbance: The Phenomenon of Our Age by George K. Simon for a general overview.

S. Brown categorises Dangerous Men as follows:

In consideration , of gnosis , aren't these , classifications , merely , self-referential , movements ? :)

 

[iamthatis]

That is the problem - most of the time, they are NOT immediately recognizable, but there are signs that women can pay attention to. When one starts exploring about character disturbance and pathology, it makes it easier to recognise the signs.
Each of the person you´ve listed above can be "bad" or not at all. What you listed is stereotyping while it all depends whether there is an underlying pathology to the man (or woman) or not.

You might want to check the book Character Disturbance: The Phenomenon of Our Age by George K. Simon for a general overview.

S. Brown categorises Dangerous Men as follows:

Yeah, that list of attributes of predatory men is a good list for anyone thinking they may be involved in a dynamic of feeding. I'd say these types could also be used as a lens for understanding both men and women.

When I think of feeding, I generally think of something in the animal kingdom, something predatory, or violent, coercive, aggressive, cruel, ruthless, but that's not always the case. In human relationships, those attributes can indicate a more overt type of feeding, like a serial abuser, and if there is significant gaslighting, it can still be very hard to See from the inside, but it can also be easier to See from the outside.

In my experience, it was harder to See when the bad boy is feeding through a victim mentality, through softness and through what appear to be expressions of love. This is something to think about when we insist on treating each other a certain way - 'don't be critical, it's not loving' - which we've seen in a few threads recently.

The permanent clinger type mentioned, or the mental illness type, or someone who is looking for a parent - these bad boys can be very kind and caring, gentle, etc. - all the attributes normally associated with a loving person. This strategy is adopted in counterposition to the ruthless, exploitative world out there, and it can be quite alluring. Men who take this road seem to be very precious..

Anyways, thanks for posting this list, as I have been pondering my relationship with my own Dad, and he fits these three types listed - a needy, victim-based man, who holds his mental illness as the eternal excuse, and looks to others to parent him, direct his life and give him attention. Meanwhile, his external presentation is a somewhat weird but very generous, funny, and caring person. This sort of vulnerable persona was set up to meet his childhood needs, which functions to bond people to him and get him social esteem, but beneath that there is something devious and hungry, something irresponsible and destructive, which I have Seen in his behaviour and interactions throughout the years. It was much harder for me to spot than a more overt kind of narcissism of, for instance, the idiots on my hockey team.

So there are the dark bad boys, and maybe what we might call 'light' bad boys. Or maybe 'bad boy lite', kinda like Coke Zero. Sweet, but the aspartame will kill you. They'll throw a tantrum if they don't get what they want, and sometimes that tantrum lasts their whole life, resulting in a philosophy of passivity, entitlement, Dunning-Kruger, and also a desire to destroy any social formation and remake it according to their own values - a family, a country, the world. So an understandable Romanticism in the face of mechanical or technocratic exploitation can easily slide into something Dionysian. This is the plight of the emasculated Man of the West.

Anyways, it was an important point for me to understand, because it was in my blind spot for years.

It also has bearing on the C's quote Jones posted about Love.

Q: (L) So, you are saying that the path to illumination is knowledge and not love?

A: That is correct.

Q: (L) Is it also correct that emotion can be used to mislead, that is emotions that are twisted and generated strictly from the flesh or false programming?

A: Emotion that limits is an impediment to progress. Emotion is also necessary to make progress in 3rd density. It is natural. When you begin to separate limiting emotions based on assumptions from emotions that open one to unlimited possibilities, that means you are preparing for the next density.

Q: (L) What about Love?

A: What about it?

Q: (L) There are many teachings that are promulgated that Love is the key, the answer. They say that illumination and knowledge and what-not can all be achieved through love.

A: The problem is not the term "love," the problem is the interpretation of the term. Those on third density have a tendency to confuse the issue horribly. After all, they confuse many things as love. When the actual definition of love as you know it is not correct either. It is not necessarily a feeling that one has that can also be interpreted as an emotion, but rather, as we have told you before, the essence of light which is knowledge is love, and this has been corrupted when it is said that love leads to illumination. Love is Light is Knowledge. Love makes no sense when common definitions are used as they are in your environment. To love you must know. And to know is to have light. And to have light is to love. And to have knowledge is to love.

The 'bad boy lite' type is emblematic of this problem. Love is not a feeling, good or bad. So the good feelings surrounding this emasculated 'bad boy lite' is not actually Love. If Love is Light is Knowledge, then Love is any process that illuminates, revealing information that was hidden before, resulting in an increase in understanding. And often that truth seen in the Light of Love is very painful. The poet Khalil Gibran expresses it well:

On Love
Then said Almitra, Speak to us of Love.
And he raised his head and looked upon
the people, and there fell a stillness upon
them. And with a great voice he said:
When love beckons to you, follow him,
Though his ways are hard and steep.
And when his wings enfold you yield to
him,
Though the sword hidden among his
pinions may wound you.
And when he speaks to you believe in
him,
Though his voice may shatter your dreams
as the north wind lays waste the garden.

For even as love crowns you so shall he
crucify you. Even as he is for your growth
so is he for your pruning.
Even as he ascends to your height and
caresses your tenderest branches that quiver
in the sun,
So shall he descend to your roots and
shake them in their clinging to the earth.

Like sheaves of corn he gathers you unto
himself.
He threshes you to make you naked.
He sifts you to free you from your husks.
He grinds you to whiteness.
He kneads you until you are pliant;
And then he assigns you to his sacred
fire, that you may become sacred bread for
God’s sacred feast.

All these things shall love do unto you
that you may know the secrets of your
heart, and in that knowledge become a
fragment of Life’s heart.

But if in your fear you would seek only
love’s peace and love’s pleasure,
Then it is better for you that you cover
your nakedness and pass out of love’s
threshing-floor,
Into the seasonless world where you
shall laugh, but not all of your laughter,
and weep, but not all of your tears.

Love gives naught but itself and takes
naught but from itself.
Love possesses not nor would it be
possessed;
For love is sufficient unto love.

When you love you should not say,
“God is in my heart,” but rather, “I am
in the heart of God.”
And think not you can direct the course
of love, for love, if it finds you worthy,
directs your course.

Love has no other desire but to fulfil
itself.
But if you love and must needs have
desires, let these be your desires:
To melt and be like a running brook
that sings its melody to the night.
To know the pain of too much tenderness.
To be wounded by your own under-
standing of love;
And to bleed willingly and joyfully.
To wake at dawn with a winged heart
and give thanks for another day of loving;
To rest at the noon hour and meditate
love’s ecstasy;
To return home at eventide with grati-
tude;
And then to sleep with a prayer for the
beloved in your heart and a song of praise
upon your lips.