David Whyte Says...Fall in Love

Evie S. @evieshaffer

The below, from David Whyte’s The Three Marriages, p. 93

To find the first mirror of our soul we must fall in love with that reflection…

Being young and trying to catch a glimpse of the depths, of the true self, of the soul, or whatever human beings have called it over the centuries, we often find ourselves surrounded by bossy, hectoring voices trying to short-circuit our personal experience by superimposing their own disappointments. Much of this bossiness masquerades as an education. It is especially magnified in Britain at this time, where children are worried, threatened, stressed, depressed and over-examined at frighteningly regular intervals from a mere five years old until college. The whole dynamic looks like an unconscious living death wish, wished particularly on the next generation by those who have suffered from a long and uninterrupted tradition of bossiness in those islands.

Even if the intuitions of the original sin are sometimes accurate, and there is a need at times for control of the darker emotions, to the young that is not the point. To find the first mirror of our soul we must fall in love with that reflection, and what, may I ask, has ever been the point of giving anyone in love, warnings or detailed advice?