A Mexican talismans for love, healing, and protection
"Fortune and Love Favor the Brave" Ovid (43BCE-17AD)
If you do a search for quotes you will see that Ovid has about a billion of them, all classics; he is known for his quotes and for some pretty fine story telling as well. The 15 tales in his Metamorphoses are considered by many to be some of the finest stories from the classical period.
But this quote means so much more for me. (I could have applied for a minor in Classics from my Undergrad.) It has always been one of my favorites for I do not believe that there are many truer statements that could be said.
"Fortune and Love Favor the Brave"
In part, it is just a very simple fact that in order to acquire (or build a fortune), it takes vision, boldness and drive to be successful.
But as for love…
To love, truly, deeply, madly, it is the greatest and bravest act of all. Love is after all, a most selfish act. I know that sounds rather harsh but just think it through for a moment.
When you absolutely love someone, you are holding that person up to the highest of standards, you are stating clearly and bravely that this individual is worthy of your affection; that this person is deserving of your devotion. You know to the very core of your being that you would lay down your life for that person and that they are worthy of such an act because they are worthy of you. What a courageous thing to “surrender” yourself to; what an amazing statement, I am brave enough to love that deeply and that honestly.
But this act does come with a cautionary tag and no warranty at all. For as much as love can be considered, discussed and or written about it is the greatest leap of faith that one can take. Consider: “Here, please take this declaration of my heart, know that I consider you worthy, and please do not thrash it, okay?”
To love requires an act of true bravery but to accept love; just consider the leap of faith that you must take to let that happen? There is a choice that you make with love. This act requires you to be open, to consider, to be kind, to be compassionate, to place this person of your choice not before you but next to you, by your side as one that matters and is to be cherished. To love requires that you not only search your own soul but you let your soul be searched by the person that you have chosen.
Think of what it takes to let someone that close to the very core of who you are. Are you brave enough to let someone see not just every joy, success, achievement and desire but to also let them know of every hurt, disappointment, pain, anguish and show that you are vulnerable? Are you capable of such an act? Are you actually able to be that open and that introspective? Because if you are then I truly believe that the ultimate happiness can be achieved. But if you choose to hide behind the wall and that gates and live a life of ignorance, cowardice and self absorption then the truth of love will avoid you forever!
Choose to be that open and choose to be that fearless…Do not come so close that you can grasp it and let it slip away to your own detriment and demise.
The English translation form Persian:
~If I speak in the tongues of men and of angels, but have not love, I am only a resounding gong or a clanging cymbal.~If I have the gift of prophecy and can fathom all mysteries and all knowledge, and if I have a faith that can move mountains, but have not love, I am nothing.
~If I give all I possess to the poor and surrender my body to the flames, but have not love, I gain nothing.
~Love is patient, love is kind. It does not envy, it does not boast, it is not proud. It is not rude, it is not self-seeking, it is not easily angered, it keeps no record of wrongs.
~Love does not delight in evil but rejoices with the truth.
~It always protects, always trusts, always hopes, always perseveres.
~ Love never fails. But where there are prophecies, they will cease; where there are tongues, they will be stilled; where there is knowledge, it will pass away.
~For we know in part and we prophesy in part, but when perfection comes, the imperfect disappears.
~When I was a child, I talked like a child, I thought like a child, I reasoned like a child. When I became a man, I put childish ways behind me.
~Now we see but a poor reflection as in a mirror; then we shall see face to face. Now I know in part; then I shall know fully, even as I am fully known.
~And now these three remain: faith, hope and love. But the greatest of these is love.
No comments:
Post a Comment