My partner is on a different path -- need advice

There has been good advice in this thread and it indeed can be a minefield, as was said.

Fwiw, on the 17th my partner and I have been in marriage for 32 years. Many of those years we both were caught up in the affairs of raising a child and figuring out something of life while towing our own baggage. There were times when our collinear relationship was waning, if it was even collinear - we seemed for a time on foreign paths. In the last decade things changed slowly at first, we both moved in different directions, yet there were intercept points. It was at these points that things were acknowledged and learning could begin - communicating is something we worked at to maintain.

Going further into the work for me, also brought up discussions of further cognitive and science type matters; not to mention history and the world at large. I started working with more and more people (result of my vocational work) and so did she in a very different way, which resulted in more discussion between us and more learning from each others experiences. As for the real work, work on the-self, even though she was not here on the forum, she was nonetheless doing the same thing in her own way; unpacking baggage in an honest, often painful, yet thoughtful way - I watched this unfold, and it still is. So we've accepted each others paths, knowing they are different in part, accepting these differences, while also knowing there is great commonalty and in affect, these paths are shared.

As for shutting things out, at one time in the past this was so for her, as it was for me, yet her alignments (and mine), without ever asking her to consider, naturally just became more collinear - it was like an osmosis effect, like minds hearing each other without speaking. To this day now, it has become uncanny how she sees something (people, herself or worldviews) and can decipher things so much more clearly in alignment of the work. To be perfectly honest, on the forum, in the work, there is the concept of having someone on the step behind you, and that has become more case, yet more so, I also realized that I'm on the step behind her in so many many ways - so we keep at helping each other to learn and step forward.

I don't think I would have seen this even five years ago. In saying that, keeping communication open, learning more patience, truly listening, trusting, considering and being open to feedback helps a great deal - cause its damn hard seeing yourself in an objective way. In some of these latter things, I truly have to thank the forum here for helping me to better plant these seeds.
 
voyageur, what you wrote reflects many aspects of my own relationship. Thanks for sharing. And I think Laura summed it up beautifully in her last post.

I really like Saint-Exupery's quote on love:

Love does not consist in gazing at each other, but in looking outward together in the same direction.
- Antoine de Saint-Exupery

This means, I think, that it's not about "being the same", or even "being on the same path", but about heading in the same direction. So as an extreme example, if one partner's main striving is to own a big car, hosting dinner parties and increase his/her social status, plus wants to have kids, while the other one wants to use his/her time to study reality and doesn't want to have kids, there's going to be trouble.

As to what that "common direction" is or can be - yes, thinking in terms of "doing the Work" and "opening the eyes to reality" are important aspects, but this can also lead to black-and-white thinking and over-interlectualization, or even to narratives as to why someone is or is not good for us, simply masking the fact that we want to "go the easy way", OSIT. Maybe on a more basic level lies the question: Are we and our partner willing to get over ourselves because we CARE for one another? To use Dabrowski's terms: Are we willing to get over our "primitive instinctive drives", in their many manifestations, to build something better, because we CARE for the other?

To put it another way: we are all jerks sometimes, and "being a jerk" includes such things as talking bad about something that is very dear to the other person, passive-aggressive or openly aggressive behavior, hurting the other at his/her very core etc., but the difference is, I think, that in a good relationship, there is so much care for the other that you can talk about this, that one can sincerely apologize, that one helps each other seeing what's going on, that we share the joy of seeing the other person grow, become more happy, and more productive with the things that are important to him/her. Again, all of this out of genuine CARE/love, which includes a desire to really understand the other, including his/her programs, and to love him/her anyway, because we can emphazize - we have our programs too, but different ones, so why criticize the other for it? Coming from a place of love, care and empathy, we can instead point out our observations in a way that are likely to be understood, because we can put us in the other's shoes. And genuine care makes sure that observations are taken in, and "primitive instinctive drives" eventually loose their power and domination.

As has been said, this is a minefield for sure, and I guess the right answers can only be found on an individual level.
 
While I didn't bring this topic up myself, reading through it and everyone's replies has been really useful for me as I'm currently in the deep-end over the last week or so with a similar relationship issue. So just wanted to say thanks for the posting, reflections and responses, and that I'm very grateful for for this forum being what it is - FWIW thanks.
 
alkhemst said:
So just wanted to say thanks for the posting, reflections and responses, and that I'm very grateful for for this forum being what it is - FWIW thanks.

Same here. I don't really know how best to use the term co-linear about my relationship. I'll just say that my wife isn't a member here but she knows that I am and a lot about what I research, read and respond to. In some ways we are exact opposites, but in very complementary ways. My weakness might be her strength and etc. I learn from her all the time and I share with her what I learn. We relate together very well, have fun together, understand each other and what our life goals are and we help each other - even while we learn from our own conflicts. Because we want to, I guess. We both like our 'alone' time and have both willingly sacrificed for each other at different times and in certain contexts and situations. All in all, I just can't imagine being without her.
 
Martina said:
oh, what troubles me is: does my partner feel such deep need as I do for seking the truth and being aware, or he just pretends?, we are good friends and we have a child, but how long should I wait for him to stop drinking beer and watch crap on tv? When I said I want to leave him I really felt release, because I'm sick of everything. I was working nightshift this week to earn money to pay the bills for the flat where I don't want to live at all, what's the point?
Waiting for someone to change is wishful thinking and probably won't happen. I would lay down basic rules of what I expect from a partner/lover and if he isn't willing to make the effort then I would probably leave.
We have to take control of our own lives and strip away the illusions that keep us tied down in situations that wear us down and prevent us from doing the Work proper if that's the path we desire to take.
 
I appologise for cracking into topic and showing my frustrations. I was really tired when I was writing.
Yes, it is true that people shouldn't need or want to change somebody else- that' s manipulating. I've got aware of that, and I've decided to be objective and honest as much as I could which is hard-but that's my life mission :). Thankfully I just realised how things are in my relationship- but it took me a lot to get it. I think that doing EE helped me to release some burdens and to connect things in picture.
If you love someone you love this person as it is- and you don't have problems with that. but you need to know who you are and who this person is. what is important- the closeness, sharing emotions, being open. my partner and I were never close as we sholud be, and I was pretending I'm fine with that because we have a kid together.
you're not on the same path with someone if you don't share the soul, so to say :).
emphaty should be present on both sides, because is the most important thing we own.
my partner doesn't have the ability to share anything with anyone,or to compassion with someone( so we're not exactly a partners but near roomates) and I'm still a wild horse who has to work a lot on myself.
I don't know if that's helpful to anyone.
I would like to find a soulmate one day, but it will probbably happen naturally when I grow some soul first.
 
mk1154 said:
When I got together with my girlfriend 3 years ago we were on very similar ground. We were both "seeking" our spirituality in a variety of different ways and were open to lots of new things and ideas. In this way we fell in love with each other and are now getting married in a few weeks.
I think it is better to postpone the wedding than to get married in a few weeks. I think you need to be 100% sure of that your girlfriend is the one for you for the rest of your life, and it does not sound like you are nearly confident enough about her. There's no rush and you should not rush or be pressured into marriage by anyone. It doesn't matter what the costs or consequences are for postponing the wedding, because marrying the wrong person would be far worse.
 
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