In this talk, Zach explores the idea that understanding is the bedrock of love. The deeper the understanding, the deeper the love. We must understand ourselves if we are to love ourselves. Intimacy is “into-me-see,” it’s seeing deeply into another person and honoring, accepting, and validating who they are.
Intro Poem part of the Pebbles collection, click here to purchase: https://www.amazon.com/Pebbles-Zach-Beach/dp/B0B2V3VYW6
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What can we gain by sailing to the moon if we are not able to cross the abyss that separates us from ourselves?
– Thomas Merton
It happens all the time in heaven,
And some day
It will begin to happen
Again on earth –
That men and women who are married,
And men and men who are
Lovers,
And women and women
Who give each other
Light,
Often get down on their knees
And while so tenderly
Holding their lovers hand,
With tears in their eyes
Will sincerely speak, saying,
My dear,
How can I be more loving to you;
How can I be more kind?
– Hafiz
The conversation came after you asked me about heaven,
told me you thought that heaven would be specific to each person,
and each person would have their own version of it.
and you asked me,
what would mine be?
You said you don’t have to believe what I believe
It’s enough to be good.
Be good.
I will.
And I will think about your heaven.
– Shane Koyczan, Heaven, Or Whatever
The Arabs used to say,
When a stranger appears at your door,
feed him for three days
before asking who he is,
where he’s come from,
where he’s headed.
That way, he’ll have strength
enough to answer.
Or, by then you’ll be
such good friends
you don’t care.
– Naomi Shihab Nye, Red Brocade
Walk gently on this earth with purposeful steps
You share this space with seven billion human beings
And countless other precious life forms
Just like you
They all want to be happy
Just like you
They all need love
We’re not going to survive unless we walk
Gently on this earth together,
Until we touch something in others that
Feels just like the shards of our own pain,
The fluttering warmth of our own joy,
Until we sew their wounds into our hearts
And seal it with our own skin
– Kaveri Patel, Just Like You
He who knows others is wise, he who knows himself is enlightened.
– Lao Tzu
