I walk the streets of Western thought. They've been well-fortified since Roman times, connecting centers of power and establishing a unique logic of knowledge exchange. They connect points, their nodes are central, the path itself is cumbersome, arduous. A culture of monuments developed on these streets, leading to accumulations of knowledge and power. The division of labor led to specialization and progress. A society emerges in which the individual is understood as a social being whose social reality is determined by rules. And since the Renaissance, humans have been trying to understand themselves by observing the outside world. We develop models of our humanity, simulate ourselves in theories and analyses.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
After more than 2000 years, this has shaped us. The social is religion, politics, psychology, social science. The togetherness is functional. The self, the soul as a starting point, is discredited and reduced to identity. How then can two people meet in love? By love, I mean, of course, not biochemical functions that serve to preserve the species, stabilize social constructs, or cater to capitalistically exploitable desires. By love, I mean the connection of an awakened soul that connects with its original ground through the encounter of another. In this triangular structure lies a multiple paradox. How can an individual connect with the totality through a third party? How can I understand myself as part of the whole, in which there is an other that is different from me?<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Is the inner path to the ground of consciousness possible through Another? Many spiritual paths are monastic; the Other is either merely part of the world and not really thought of as Other, or it is idealized in the form of a figure \u2013 for example, Christian nuns are married to Jesus, monks live in celibacy.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
In Indian culture, there is the Tantric path. This is the most difficult and complex, as it does not exclude anything. Everything that life and the world have to offer is possible. However, it requires deep reflection to not misunderstand this multiplicity as a distraction, pastime, illusion, substitute, addiction, or self-display. Yantras, mantras, and tantras serve to see everything that exists in its context, to perceive its inner essence, and to recognize it within oneself in order to activate or pacify it.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Perhaps, however, it is precisely this rocky path taken together with another person that leads to the summits. Often, individuals likely drive themselves up the mountain because they have been hurt, because the other person was unreachable, withdrew, disappeared, or changed. Ascending a summit to devote oneself to exploring the soul in a cave is a turning away. However, I am wondering about an alternative to this turning away, meaning rather a shared introspection. At the heart of Hinduism lies the connection of Shiva and Shakti \u2013 they are cosmic principles of individuality and nature.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
When one embarks on that inner path, it begins with a fascinating journey through the unknown, the blocked, the suppressed, the uplifting, the frightening, the shocking, the enlightening. I become aware of my complexity and potentiality, and if I walk this path alone, ideally guided by a teacher, infinity and immortality await.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
But what happens when I walk the path with another? When I am confronted by the other's eyes? What happens when the inner experience wants to be shared and is then reflected differently in the other, thus questioning one's own experience? Doesn't this amplify insecurities, cloud the path, deepen the abysses, and make the way rockier? But doesn't it also illuminate hidden areas, shared experiences that can only be unlocked together, and energies released only through circulation via the other? This shared path, which breaks hearts when it ends, is the most ambitious path. It involves existential struggles, shadows, distortions, anger leading to destruction, lies and self-deception, responsibility, and failure.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
However, there is this romantic notion of soulmates, a bond for eternity, perhaps even across multiple lives. In literature, there's the concept of connected souls who can find each other again in subsequent lives. Why not? If the idea is that we need multiple lives to recognize ourselves, why shouldn't that also apply to a bond? How do we recognize the soul we are connected to, and how do we recognize that we were mistaken? Most of us are familiar with the experience of failed relationships. We saw something, experienced something, loved someone, and then it turns out it doesn't work, that the conflicts are too great. Were we mistaken? Sometimes we make mistakes, which I don't want to discuss, that happens. But what if the love was real and sincere, the souls were connected, but the bond didn't last, the circumstances weren't favorable, the inner work wasn't done? Were we mistaken about the connection or about its dissolution? That is the central question of every separation.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
I think we can look at that in different ways. We ask ourselves if it works in daily life, then the question arises whether we change daily life or the partner. Not an easy question. We can try to change the other person or ourselves. Trying to change others usually goes wrong. But how willing am I to change myself \u2013 not to please the other person, but to grow myself? And if both grow, do they grow in the same direction?<\/p>\n\n\n\n
The people I loved all still have a place in my heart. It\u2019s complicated. It\u2019s not about not being able to let go, but about a connection that is real but has changed its power. Love can become friendship or memory, it can live on within oneself without referring to the other person. Love transforms \u2013 sometimes it transforms itself. It is not static, it is not a rigid state. Love heals, grows, intoxicates, and hurts, it embraces and sets boundaries, it dissolves the self, brings the soul to the fore, challenges.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Is there a destination in love?<\/p>","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
Ich komme auf den Stra\u00dfen des westlichen Denkens. Sie sind seit den R\u00f6mern gut befestigt, verbinden Zentren der Macht und etablierten eine ganz eigene Logik des Wissensaustausches. Sie verbinden Punkte, ihre Knoten sind zentral, der Weg selbst ist l\u00e4stig, m\u00fchselig. Auf diesen Stra\u00dfen entwickelte sich eine Kultur der Monumente, sie f\u00fchrten zu Akkumulationen von Wissen […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":5690,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_editorskit_title_hidden":false,"_editorskit_reading_time":0,"_editorskit_is_block_options_detached":false,"_editorskit_block_options_position":"{}","footnotes":""},"categories":[2,911],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-5688","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-bewusstsein","category-tantra"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/readingdeleuzeinindia.org\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/5688","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/readingdeleuzeinindia.org\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/readingdeleuzeinindia.org\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/readingdeleuzeinindia.org\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/readingdeleuzeinindia.org\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=5688"}],"version-history":[{"count":2,"href":"https:\/\/readingdeleuzeinindia.org\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/5688\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":5691,"href":"https:\/\/readingdeleuzeinindia.org\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/5688\/revisions\/5691"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/readingdeleuzeinindia.org\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/5690"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/readingdeleuzeinindia.org\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=5688"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/readingdeleuzeinindia.org\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=5688"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/readingdeleuzeinindia.org\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=5688"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}