Desperate for Love?

My Japanese friend emailed me after a six year hiatus. I reminded her that six years before she had terminated our email conversations by saying, "It is not proper for a married man to communicate with a single (divorced) woman." Now, living again in Japan, she said she "had come back to me."

I am happy she contacted me again. I told her about my life, about my love for my wife, about my Christian faith, which, I observed, is all about love. (She is not Christian.) I hyperlinked the Leonard Cohen song, Dance Me to the End of Love.

She asked me, "Why are you so desperate for love?" At first I reacted by quibbling, saying I had love in my life, so how could I be desperate for it? But as I thought more about her question, I realized she was right. I am desperate (i.e. hopeless) without love, longing for love. And this is my condition in life, whether I know it or not. Sometimes I do know it, and then I feel my yearning, as for an elixir.

My friend believes there is more to life than love. But for me, love does seem to me to be all there is, what everything boils down to. It is all about love. I thank my non-Christian friend for prompting this insight. And I want to keep trying to learn love's lessons, to find the assurance that love gives. For to look at the world through the eyes of love, and to be so looked at, to be so touched, is to stave off desperation, to breathe life, to find the meaning of life. Such a love, through seeing, forgiving, heals the broken heart, which is the only meaning for us humans.

Listen to "I want to Know What Love is" by Foreigners

Listen to "Ain't No Cure for Love" by Leonard Cohen

Listen to "All You Need Is Love" by the Beatles.

Listen to "To Love Somebody" by the Beegees

Listen to "How Do You Heal a Broken Heart?" by the Beegees

Listen to "Our Love, Don't Throw It All Away" by the Beegees

Listen to "How Deep Is Your Love?" by the Beegees

Listen to "Stand By Me", by Ben E. King and the Drifters

Listen to "A Thousand Kisses Deep" by Leonard Cohen

Listen to "I Need To Be In Love" by the Carpenters

Listen to "I Miss You Like Crazy," sung by Natalie Cole.

Listen to "Miracle" by Celine Dion

Read the Bishops' Letter on Love and Marriage.