Loving Ghosts & Strangers

[Teresa]

I can feel a person's mind/soul in a painting or essay, a photograph they're in or connected to, an inanimate object they've touched or a song.

The feeling can be so strong for these minds I sometimes hardly know that suddenly their essence envelopes and inspires me to speak out loud to an otherwise empty room, "I love you."

It makes no sense.

I've felt this love when reading the words of those long dead - Sylvia Plath entering my dilated pupils as the intuitive twinge of her husband's infidelity is finally confirmed, "The truth loves me"; I felt it with Henry Miller's admonition to "Forget yourself" in order to be fully present and as Michel de Montaigne gripped my soul from his 16th century post, "There is, beyond all my reasoning, and beyond all that I can specifically say, some inexplicable power of destiny that brought about our union."

I'm very curious about these frequent BURSTS of love for others, those near- or perfect strangers whose creations cause a familiar stirring within me, a feeling which ranges from deep enduring appreciation to a brief obsession.

This phenomenon leads me to believe that love is ubiquitous, a ghostly ethereal breath which flows freely in and around us; it is as God was described by Voltaire: "God is a circle whose center is everywhere and circumference is nowhere."

*Condensed version of Loving Ghosts & Strangers. The long version is @ http://wabisabiwords.blogspot.com

[Michael Brown]

I guess this is why most of us are here--to make these connections. The surprise comes when what you've been able to get from the recognized geniuses (genii(?) no, that can't be!), also arises from the expression of people we're learning to consider friends. I'm seeing beautiful writing here, at 6S, I mean, and this is one of the best. You've got a knack for effective phrasing and keen observation.

[Joseph Lupoli]

I don't have the knack to feel anyone's mind. But somehow, almost everyone knows what's in mine.

[Pamila Payne]

I had a very "ah, yes, me too!" reaction to this piece. You honed in on something really big. That's why I went right over and read the longer version of this piece on your blog. It's really a beautifully written and concisely expressed exploration of intuitive creative empathy. Totally worth the click, friends - I suggest you go read Teresa's blog too.

[Jared Handley]

nice description of something i would have never guessed to be properly described. but i know exactly what you mean. great 6, T!