Romantic Fiction, Reality Shaping and The Work

[seek10]

I had a small emotional breakthrough last night after reading Elisa Braden's Ever Yours, Annabelle. I can't really say to what part of the story it was related, but perhaps it centred on having false notions and assumptions. The pain I felt was rather intense, coming from a distant past, but it didn't last long, because I knew what caused it (it had manifested itself over these past few months on a conscious level, but without any feelings attached to it), so this time I could integrate it completely (at least that's what I think).

I finished Ever Yours, Annabelle book. I really enjoyed the lovely games kids play, sweet parents, ever chasing bumble bee, her intense attraction to her knight, since she was a small child. I felt a lot of anxiety when Bumblebee making up system 2 narrations of her knights hidden motivations for the marriage proposal and continue to push him away (Heck, I want a happy ending sooner!). I liked the discipline, maturity of the knight, and his dedication in protecting his careless lady, though he has a hard time expressing himself.

 

[Stella Marys]

Sexuality is a difficult topic to address and is fraught with misunderstanding. Reading the novels recommended by Laura opened a transcendent dimension for the human being.

Now I understand the importance of these books!

I finished reading one novel and I am eager to discover others! I am with the Jennifer Ashley series. Simply put: I love it!

The sexual aspect between men and women is often a subject loaded with many fears and judgments; it seems "indecent" to express oneself freely in this area, so to speak.

In my experience, I understand that sexuality is not just a physical act; there are emotional, mental and spiritual aspects involved in a relationship.

I have known my partner for 26 years, and our relationship has gone through many stages. Of course, at first the physical and mental attraction brought us closer, but if the relationship extends over time, other aspects of being begin to unfold.

I felt that the story told in the novel was a little like our story. I connected easily with the characters and felt a bit of nostalgia. I became aware of the healing path we have been walking along in our common history. We are like a team, each one working on their own traumas, programs, personalities... and contributing their virtues to form this entity called couple. Our relationship has been healing and the process is permanent, growing. I have no idea what it might become in the future, but the journey began without knowing that we were making a path. Now the path is conscious.

Well, I already commented that I read aloud for him because of his dyslexia, I only commented on the novel, I read some parts of this thread, even our daughter "stopped her ear", she is twenty years old and she grew up listening to our conversations, readings, she has fun with the Cs and Laura, but she does not fully integrate. We'll see how this goes...

Sexuality is also deeply emotional, if there are emotional blockages they will surely appear in the relationship, even unconscious blockages can surface to be worked on.

It depends on the interest to work on oneself or not, but the doors open.
I think that if we have psychological or emotional blockages, that wonderful sexual energy cannot flow freely. I suppose when you talk about healing, you mean this. The opportunity to work on hurt aspects in both partners manifests itself.

In our case, the relationship has been and is healing, we both have a common interest in doing awareness work.
There is openness of heart, so to speak, between us there is trust and truth. But if this reality is with us, it is because we have built it over the years.

However, I must say that I was once confused. I thought that physical reality was not so important. That the "immaterial realms" were the important ones. This can bring certain blocks and therefore affect the expression of sexuality.

I believe that human life is sacred and therefore sexuality is sacred. And it is precious! It is not good to blame sexuality for the mental or emotional blocks that appear. If conflicts emerge within us when we are intimate, we have the possibility to observe, work and heal those aspects with understanding, talking honestly with our partner. At least that is our experience. Let's say that the conflicts we had were more about solving problems in daily life, not so much on the plane of intimacy.

Perhaps on that plane we were open enough to understand... Now I understand why the entropic force works so hard to deflect the true meaning of sexuality by contaminating people's minds with pornography or dogmatic beliefs.

It has the potential, if well used, to be a path of healing, of deep connection with another being, of mutual growth and self-knowledge, it has great potential for creativity and to transcend even the physical; but it also has the potential for great misuse.

Konstantin said beautifully:

Your personal problems now become problems of both of you and both of you as a couple is much smarter than just one of you in solving and navigating the labyrinths of life and daily problems. Both partners learn to give, learn to carry for their partner, to risk their own wellbeing in order to help the other partner.

Reading these novels somehow enables us to be more aware of these processes going on in the background that we are unaware in our automated daily life.

Thanks to all of you.

 

[liam1310]

Coming back to this thread, read the first few pages couple weeks ago. I will download the book Ark read, "seven nights in a rogues bed" never read anything like these books. But hey, first time for everything. My mother reads these kinds of books, I never thought I would be reading them. Anyway, thanks Laura.

 

[hlat]

I finished Caroline Linden's My Once and Future Duke, book 1 of the Wagers of Sin series. I recommended my wife read it too, though at this point I like the Marriage of Convenience series better. When Sofie finally said I love you, I felt a flood of emotions, as if the people were real and I was feeling happiness and relief for them.

Spoiler

I think the storyline and emotional experiencing of Jack losing his first love and being heartbroken, and then learning that he could love again with Sofie, is helpful for many of us.

I can't find the inline spoiler in this new tech format.

Maybe I was feeling the emotions for my past self too, not in the sense of a past life, but in the sense of regarding my younger self as if he were a separate and different person. Sometimes I imagine sending emotional support to my past younger self, because God knows he needed it. How much stronger could I have been and how much less could the burden have felt, had I known or believed that I would get my happily ever after ending.

 

[thorbiorn]

I also want to mention Laura Kinsale's book, "My Sweet Folly". Boy, that one is harrowing!

There is a lot of emotional pain in this book, gradually revealed in the stories of more than just the protagonists. There is love, and there is a happy ending, but the pain keeps seeping out right until the end, at least for me. I wondered if novels that stir a lot would be worthwhile rereading or going over again. A second reading allows the characters and the plot to settle in a new balance, because one's own understanding also of oneself has changed between the two readings.

I finished this book rather fast to my surprise. In fact, it is longer than the previous books I read. Though it doesn't have the usual deliberate attempt to heal the protagonist, the story has an interesting combination of paranormal, conspiracy, magic, and most importantly honest rationality to figure out a complex plot, which is gripping. Little smart humor in between fits into the intriguing story very well. When the words fail for verbal communication due to programs, falling back to the writing communication is interesting. The final unraveling climax scene is somewhat chaotic, which makes me reread that part.

My understanding from reading the novel was that the healing takes place through gradual maturation during many and varied events, often moved forward by the dynamics between the fundamental desire of the male protagonist to protect the female character and her stepdaughter, as well as the deep desire of the heroine to help and protect the main male character, her stepdaughter, and even their friends. While these sentiments are fueled by deep love, it takes quite some time for this love to flourish, unfettered by outside pressure and inner conflicts. I have found parallel dynamics in other novels. In this novel, it seems to me, that the protagonists gradually become so aware of their patterns of thinking and behavior, that they can drop the identification with their programs and work around them. Here is one example, or rather two short quotes nine pages apart which show how the heroine helps the hero to see himself. I don't think this quote will spoil the action part of a future reader, but below a spoiler it goes:

Spoiler

“I think you are all frozen up in rust already, sweet knight,” she said, with an odd, unexpected note of affection. “You stand here stupefied because none of your joints will move.”

Robert gave an ironic laugh. It struck him as one of those things an Indian saint could say—so utterly true that it laid his whole life before him in a single picture.

Kinsale, Laura. My Sweet Folly (Regency Tales Book 2) (p. 355). Open Road Media. Kindle Edition.
[...]
Rusted. Rusted solid in his armor.
Robert looked down at the old cat settling in his lap. Lander was wrong; his magician-tutor was wrong. It was not his life Robert feared to lose. It was his life that he feared to live.

Kinsale, Laura. My Sweet Folly (Regency Tales Book 2) (p. 364). Open Road Media. Kindle Edition.

When I read up on the author of My Sweet Folly, I found something about the process of writing that made me wonder, because while reading the books, sometimes there have been dreams which perhaps relates to transformative energy as mentioned in the beginning of the thread, where Laura wrote:

One of you mentioned reading novels about love and relationships in a modern setting that also talk about various problems we face in the modern world such as affairs with married men, children out of wedlock, or whatever. I don't think that is exactly what I had in mind when suggesting the reading of CERTAIN books in an effort to generate the emotions that might help to create a conduit of transformative energy. These books I'm talking about are highly idealized in terms of VALUES, though the issues the people deal with are, in many ways, similar to the issues of our own time. It is the idealized values and responses to the demands of same that interests me. It's a higher standard, emotionally speaking, than what one can derive from modern psychological dramas.

The dictionary explains a conduit as:

1: a natural or artificial channel through which something (such as a fluid) is conveyed a conduit for rainwater
2: a pipe, tube, or tile for protecting electric wires or cables
3: a means of transmitting or distributing
Merriam-Webster. (n.d.). Conduit. In Merriam-Webster.com dictionary. Retrieved October 2, 2020, from Definition of CONDUIT

Can a creative work be like a conduit of transformative energy to oneself, to information, or a particular reality? If so, I would like to know how an artistic work, like a romance novel, can be created.

The author, the creative process, the characters, and the relation between the author and his or her creation
On the page of Laura Kinsale, there are a few paragraphs concerning the process of creative writing and the relations between the author and the characters as well as the relation between the author and the creation. Different artists may have different experiences, but reading about some of the variables as described below, left me with an idea of why some books from the same authors, are better than others and why not all creations are equal, even if this latter point is trivial. Different authors have different techniques, this is just one, but I chose to explore it as one would a case. It is not necessarily representative, but it still may help to understand other products of creative writing.

Renegade Muse​

The creative process is quite different from what many people seem to imagine. Contrary to appearances, there is someone, or something outside of the creator that is involved. The nature of this entity is fluid and indescribable, but any working artist, scientist, writer or creator will be familiar with it. It does not appear on call. It does not produce what one expects. It does not perform to the written script. And yet it is the source of all artistic endeavor. Since the ancient Greeks, human creators have sacrificed and prayed in awe of the power of the Muse.

It is often envisioned as a feminine spirit: capricious, graceful, teasing, offering promises that aren’t kept, and then suddenly showering gifts that are lovely beyond description. (Ah, you book reviewers, how little you seem to know of this lady, talking as if she is something under the author’s control!)

My books are mine, and yet they are alien to me—as a child belongs to a parent and yet has a life of its own. I can guide and hope and nudge my characters this and that way, but in the end, they become what they become. I don’t always like what they become myself, but like a parent, there are times when I just don’t know what to do about it. Other times when I’m so proud of them I could bust.
[....]
Muses don’t fight fair, either. One day they tell you it’s all working great, and then the next they vanish, and you can hear them laughing somewhere off over the hills. Then they just disappear completely, and leave you in a devastated landscape with no supplies. That is what the past few years have felt like to me.
[....]
I think about my characters when I lie down to go to sleep, what they would be thinking, what they’re afraid of, what they want. And it’s still there when I get up to write. That’s a good sign the capricious lady is hovering close by.
[...]

As an update, this author published over a time of about 25 years, but so far not since 2010.

More on the relation between the main characters of a plot and an author:
The above excerpt explains a possible relation to the main characters. On Kinsale's homepage, I found more links and details. In in this interview, there was:

I’ll admit that my characters are very real to me while I’m writing them. This may make me a crazy lady, but I seem to be able to put myself into their heads with ease. I don’t have conversations with them, which is a technique some authors use–I just sort of slide into their point of view in my mind as I’m writing each scene. If I can’t do this, things aren’t going well.

Since I spend so much time in their heads, they have to be interesting to me or I’d get bored pretty fast! So while writing I am thinking, as the character, what I’d do next, and at the same time observing it. I’m curious about them. I like them. But I don’t mind putting them through hell, either, just to see what they do and how it feels.

This is one reason I don’t start with the plot (and why my plots spin out of control.) I start with a character, or both characters, and a situation, and then I think about it all a lot, and talk about it with my small circle of trusted readers, and inch forward, discovering the characters along the way.

I also draw on books I’ve read, and my research. Sometimes it helps to fill out a character fact sheet–at least to get the basics, hair color, etc–and even those basics can suggest things about the person. For instance, Callie’s red hair and skin that easily turns pink in the wind fit with the strong emotions she keeps hidden inside. I do have a blank “character sheet” which has questions like “What is X most ashamed of?” and going back to that can help if I get stuck.

It is the most fun part of writing for me, learning about these imaginary people. If they are memorable to readers, that’s even better.

If, as mentioned above, the characters are key or foundational in a plot, it is probably helpful for understanding and predicting the possible course of events to have a good grasp of the characters and the characteristics. There is more about characters. In Writing is not a service industry one finds:

[15] Posted by laura kinsale on 03.19.2010

[...] I tend to let the characters figure out for me what their purpose is!

It almost reads, as if the process of creative writing could be as exciting as reading a book without spoilers.

The creative work and the personal life of an author
In Writing is not a service industry the author strongly opposes outside pressure on artistic creativity, which reminded me of this session:

A: [...] You should know that the one time that Mozart wrote music under external pressure he quickly transited to 5th density.

Kinsale also discusses the relation between the work and life of a creative writer:

I always loved books by certain authors. I loved the words, the way they were put together…“Language is like shot silk; so much depends on the angle at which it is held.” John Fowles wrote that in The French Lieutenant’s Woman, and it awed me when I read it, the simple perfection of that image, the sound of it, and the way it fit into the story that he told. I used to love his books so much that I longed to write to him, like you’d write to a lover, as if I knew him and he must know me, and we could have long conversations and understand one another.

Lately I read a biography of him, and he was a silly mess. He was just a man, and did some things I couldn’t respect, but as an author myself I understand much better now that his books were not him. He lived in two lives, his real one, common and a little shoddy and full of all the aches and missteps and selfishness and worries that we all bear, and in another one, a world that he created with words. They intersected but they are not the same.

The above may relate to one excerpt I found while looking for the quote about Mozart. It was written some years ago

For a long time, I had the idea that artistic/musical talent was an expression of soul, but apparently it isn't. Maybe the answer is that Organic Portals, since they are described as "portals between levels of density" can act as channels of art or music from other sources without it actually coming from the individual themselves.

Coming back to the idea of a creative work as a conduit, it may sometimes be difficult to decide, what is behind a particular creative work. It may have different effects, also depending on how the creative work is recreated and understood, or shall we say perceived or taken in, by the listener, reader, or observer, In general, I think it is safer to be aware of the potential for different possibilities. It is not everywhere one really wants to go, though with the selections made by Laura we should be quite safe if a purpose is to create a conduit of transformative energy.

 

[wmu9]

The coduit stuff goes deep in the works of Gnosticism and the scifi of PKD. In which, unknown to the public he thought he was living in two worlds, Rome AD 70 and ours

 

[Laura]

Maybe I was feeling the emotions for my past self too, not in the sense of a past life, but in the sense of regarding my younger self as if he were a separate and different person. Sometimes I imagine sending emotional support to my past younger self, because God knows he needed it. How much stronger could I have been and how much less could the burden have felt, had I known or believed that I would get my happily ever after ending.

I do the same exact thing. I regularly try to support myself in the past because it was such a difficult time.

 

[thorbiorn]

While reading a passage in Untouched by Anna Campbell, I had an unpleasant sensation at the left of the lowest point on my spine. I think something in the plot that disturbed me emotionally, or resulted in resistance or in nerves tensing up. It stayed for some time before receding. After reading and sleeping some hours, I recalled the sensation from the evening before, as I was waking up, and let my attention rest where it had been. To my surprise, I picked it up easily; the sensation changed, disappeared and I dozed off again.

This example was to say that if there is an unexpected physical reaction when you read, well apart from the occasional tears and maybe arousals, then allowing the attention to go to the place of tension might assist the system to release the blockage. It worked for me, at least temporarily, even though the underlying issue may be deeper, as I suspect from the image that appeared, while I was dozing off.

Talking about images, there were other short glimpses this morning, and I think they were related to the intense reading of the romance novel the night before. In one image, there was a man with a beautiful voice singing. It was short, but if I could recreate it like a composer, I would have liked it. Another image was like a three-dimensional painting, it left me intrigued wondering what the person staring into space was thinking about. Some lyrics, melodies, and paintings are probably no more than such brief impressions committed to memory, developed, elaborated, and made manifest. I can't recreate them, but perhaps appreciating them for the duration they lasted was like medicine being administered and taken.

 

[luc]

I also want to mention Laura Kinsale's book, "My Sweet Folly". Boy, that one is harrowing!

Loved that one as well. I could identify in many ways with Robert, and it was pretty intense. Also, I thought the whole detective/spy novel side plot was just excellent!

 

[John G]

In my experience, it was a great way to learn about the person before you meet them eye to eye and I found it helpful. Sure, it is easier to deceive someone online but also - it is a safe way to share much more about one another than you would 'dare' to do when meeting someone in person, during the first few dates. My best relationships started online and although it is a bit strange to then finally see a person in front of you, the gap was quickly overcome and we just continued as normal, with way more confidence and appreciation for one another. Maybe I was just lucky?

Yeah I met my wife online; actually I met my mother-in-law first (definitely an advantage!) and given my very extreme introversion, it was a godsend.

 

[ryu]

I had a bit of an emotional breakthrough these last days. After finishing "the wicked deeds of Daniel Mackenzie", I felt skittish and didn't felt like continuing reading. I had the impression that the story moved something deep inside me. I was very busy at work so I didn't have time to linger on it, but I was feeling something "Moving up" to the surface. Then yesterday I began feeling completly depressed. I was crying without knowing why, I felt worthless, angry and shameful for no reason.

A part of me identified strongly with the character of Violette who went through abuse, who had an unhealthy relationship with her mother, who looked for the approval of her fatber figure and got betrayed, who is just getting by in life. I went through some though things, I come from a family were women are treated as second rate human beings and I had my share of violent men.

I thought I had already worked throught all that, but apparently a part of me is still feeling like trash. Worst still, somewhere, I feel like I am not good enough to deserve go be loved by a man, even more so by a good man.
Another feeling that bubbled out is resentment over the fact that I had been born a woman. A part of me is still holding the belief that women are weak, always have to please, to sacrifice themselves, to endure silently, to accept being discarded for a younger version when they're getting old etc, etc...

I don't really know what to do with all that apart from aknowledging their presence and "being" with those feelings. I feel like those parts of me are like sad and angry children.

 

[beetlemaniac]

I've finished the Sons of Sin Book 3 and it seemed to have a pretty lukewarm happy ending overall, but I suppose that isn't something terrible, since that is rather how things could possibly move towards a more stable and less turbulent relationship for the main protagonists, like "stirring the oatmeal" love that Barbara Hort talks about in her book Unholy Hungers.

I was particularly touched by the acceptance shown by Leath, the extremely imposing and larger-than-life character which plays Sophie's big brother, at the end of the book to Harry and Sophie's love for each other. Its quite a contrast between his earlier attitude of wanting Sophie to have a "proper" marriage with James Fairbrother, to the point of picking a fight with the equally imposing Cam. But I suppose a brother's protective instincts can't so much be blamed, along with the ideas of tradition which these upper-class folks hold on to, i.e. making sure you marry into the "right sort of family" at a similar level of wealth and status.

I was feeling a little bit of fatigue from Anna Campbell, and was a little reluctant to start on Book No. 4 (A Scoundrel by Moonlight) of the Sons of Sin series, I had Courting Julia (Mary Balogh) and Midsummer Moon (Regency Tales Series by Laura Kinsale) downloaded to my kindle, but I may not start these yet, until I finish A Scoundrel by Moonlight. Reading the plot summary in Amazon for the books in the Regency Tales series and the reviews here Laura and others had posted, it sounded really interesting because of the added dimensions to the plotline. The first book has some added elements of the female protagonist being an inventor and luc had mentioned the following about the second book (My Sweet Folly):

Loved that one as well. I could identify in many ways with Robert, and it was pretty intense. Also, I thought the whole detective/spy novel side plot was just excellent!

which sounds positively thrilling!

Looking forward to continuing on with this adventure. Thank you for your insightful posts, I'm finding myself losing sleep as well and wanting to stay up to read. The bibliotherapy really helps. Have also started on another book called Inviting a Monkey to Tea which Yas had recommended in the last reading workshop and it has really helped me detach from my monkey mind which seems to be ruling the show these days.

I don't know if the short novellas in the Sons of Sin series are worth reading to complete the series though, not sure if anyone has any takes on that?

 

[Gwenllian]

Now, to the 4th book - "Seducing an Angel" and why I was annoyed.
I don´t think that Cass willingly (for the lack of better word) stripp down her mask.

Spoiler: Spoiler Mari

Stephen was honest with her and himself from the start.
She was running on a program the whole book and if there wasn´t a baby, I think she would never strip it off.

She never openly confessed her love to Stephen until the baby. In all other books, characters strip down their masks because of love and courage - Cass didn´t do that.
Until she realized she was pregnant and that it is not fair to raise a child without a father.
So if Balogh didn´t "push" the baby, Cass would go on living unhappily ever after in some cottage in the middle of nowhere and be settled with it. It was a situation forced on her, to made her confess, not her own courage and will.
And that is why I think this book has a forced happily ever after and not a happy end due to character growth beyond their programs. And also why I don´t think it´s the best series I´ve red so far.

Second thing is that Cass is a Lady - but she didn´t behave like one. In all the male rouges I´ve red in previous series, they were manipulative and a lot of other things, but they were never cruel on purpose and un-gentleman-like.
She was in the situation where she had to feed 4 more mouths and had to act on it, but the way she treated Stephen in the beginning was very irritating and cruel.

So, that is how I saw it....
If there is a message and lession to be learned from this book, I still don´t see it....

It's a bit awkward to reply to a spoiler with a spoiler, so just a warning that there are spoilers ahead re. Mary Balogh's "Huxtable Series", Seducing An Angel.

I could be wrong, but it was clear to me that she loved him, but couldn't act on it because of severe wounding. She was accused of murdering her husband which she didn't do, and which resulted in her defence mechanisms becoming even stronger and her becoming even more defiant? And perhaps pregnancy hormones helped her break down her last barriers (I think Stephen did an admirable job and so did his sisters in the end), because sometimes these pesky hormones are a force for good. She could give in to her feminine side and being taken care of, having been the 'man of the family' for quite some time.

I used to be a feminist or so I thought, although I always preferred men to women as I was overly emotional and unhinged, so I was in dire need of that male counterbalance and support, but I would never have admitted that to myself at the time. These 'feminist' notions Cass nurtured were there to prop up her defence mechanisms, while lying to herself that she could live without him.

I am not making excuses for her, but I understand her actions and thoughts and she needed Stephen and his family to guide her. It's a good thing that he was so strong-minded!

I had a bit of an emotional breakthrough these last days. After finishing "the wicked deeds of Daniel Mackenzie", I felt skittish and didn't felt like continuing reading. I had the impression that the story moved something deep inside me. I was very busy at work so I didn't have time to linger on it, but I was feeling something "Moving up" to the surface. Then yesterday I began feeling completly depressed. I was crying without knowing why, I felt worthless, angry and shameful for no reason.

I don't really know what to do with all that apart from aknowledging their presence and "being" with those feelings. I feel like those parts of me are like sad and angry children.

I think that this is the way forward, sit with these parts 'like sad and angry children' without indulging them (I am not saying you are doing so) and allow the healing to take place. I have also felt worthless, resentful and angry, but yesterday while these emotions again came to the surface snippets of the romance novels popped up in my mind and redirected them, making me understand how things could be different, if I dared to be different. The other day I had a dream which seemed to represent utter chaos, but when I thought about it more the dream was telling me that my inner landscape was being turned upside down, like cards being reshuffled, but in a good way. So, perhaps this is what is going on with you?

Keep going ryu and thanks for sharing. It made me realise a couple of things about myself!

 

[Deleted member 4320]

I would like to share some thoughts about sex and emotions and love (and how to connect all of these), as short as possible because it is really simple to say about that.

First, shortly, about centers of the human being, if there are three basic lower centers: instinctual/motor center, emotional center, and intellectual center. Then sexual activity is function of the motor center.

What does it mean that they are lower? It means that the various activities of every lower center are also connected to how body works, lower centers are embedded in the physical body.

So if some kind of activity of the specific center is turned on, then it also influences the chemistry and brain waves. Let say that somebody is just before sex, then the motor center is active, various process influences himself, affecting the mind and the body.

In another situation, there is nothing about sex, but, in turn, the couple is moved by some emotional event that directly concerns them, then the emotional center is active and through their works start various processes that initiate appropriate chemical reactions and the brain's work.

Then what is the effect if somebody wants to connect emotions (emotional center) and sex (moving center)? That makes systems chaotic! From the one side, one kind of processes want to manifests fully themselves, but they are suppressed. On the other side, other types of processes want to come into being.

Well, I think that the key is to think about man and woman (in the context of the relationship) in two terms. It is, of course, some kind of simplification, but simplifications can also help to understand things faster and give fundaments for further things.

Well, my proposition is to think(say) about the Day Man, Day Woman, and Night Man, Night Woman.

Day Man interact with Day Woman: The interaction happening at the emotional and intelectual level. Man discuss with woman things that are important from the point of view of their relationships, they discuss about organizing and solving things, or just commenting present reality - this is at the intelectual center level. They care about good atmoshpere, they say to themselves good words, they are gracefull for good deeds, and forgiving for that bad, touching themselves the way that express love and careness - emotional center in works.

Night Man interact with Night Woman: The interaction going at the insitinctual/moving center level. I think this is not the fortuity that instinctual moving center is placed in the place of gonads. This interaction is different than that previous. Motor for behaviour is sexual activity, to achieve the sexual satisfaction. Man and woman do not discuss with themselves about the insurance polisy. They do not here to all night talk to themselves of how they love each other. The reason is sex. And the sex is about sex, not love, or any intelectual activity.

This is time for satisfaction for them. This is time that should be focused to find of what lay in the deep of their imaginations of the sex that they really want, and after knowing that needs, without evaluating, without laugh or unnecassary reactions that may disturb event. After that they satisfy themselves fully. If you are a man then you do what she wants, if she wants this, you do this, if she want that you do that. There is no time for intelectual discussion or some higher emotions. The things are easy, both of you have sex and it comes to the end with FULL satisfaction on her side. And after that you come back to interaction at the higher (Day) level.

Sex is one of the basic needs and there is no reason to see in it something spiritual or mix it with love etc. Love is something what should be related to the entire relationship, not sex directly. Love is accepting of what sex really is. And finally Love is to understanding the sexual needs of the partner and his/her situation and making those needs satisfied. But love is not sex directly and sex is not love, these are different things and error is to mix them or connect in one. However, sex shouldn't be perceive because of it as something unnecessary, because directly it is not what can be connected to something "higher", but balance coming from the sexual satisfaction and having good sex in the relationship, finally, with its influence on the full three centers human being, yes already.

 

[Seamus]

I just finished Anne Gracie's Marriage of Convenience series and I enjoyed it so much I'm sad that its over!

I just finished it, and I have to agree it's The Best One Yet!!

You'll see...

I really enjoyed the 4th book as well, it tied up the series in a nice way and I really liked the characters and how the story played out.

Spoiler alert:

Spoiler

I finished it (Marry in Scarlet) yesterday. I did enjoy it, but for me I think it's a tie with Marry in Scandal. I will admit Marry in Secret was my least favorite of the four because the backstory of Rose having married already just seemed kind of contrived and came out of nowhere. Plus, I'm so disappointed that the reason Lily can't read was never resolved by the series end.

I'm on to My Once and Future Duke by Caroline Linden. Then, I may go back and see what else the Mackenzies have got up to.

FWIW my take was that the author resolved it by saying that Edward accepted her as she was and hired a secretary for her. It would have been nice if she finally got the right tutor to help her overcome the dyslexia, but personally I thought it was okay the way it was done.

What should I read next? I think I'd like another series...

Added: I'm going to get started on Scarlet Scott's Sins and Scoundrels series and since I liked Anne Gracie's writing I think I will go with the Devil Riders series after that.