The core of what it is to love someone

The excerpt #

An excerpt from Jordan Peterson's interview with John Vervaeke:

The goal of Rhineland Mysticism was this kind of receptivity, you have to make a space so that the son of God can be born within you. And again, not to be irreligious, but for me to to love my partner is to cultivate that kind of receptivity, a space in which she can be within me, and I don't mean in any purely romantic metaphorical sense. What I mean is she finds a purchase within me whereby she can realize herself, in both senses of the word realize. And she can come to trust that that space that place of realization will always be available for her. And she can come to rely on it. A place which she can transcend herself when she needs to. And being committed to that and finding that inseparably bound up with my own project of trying to realize who I am. That's for me the core of what it is to love somebody.

I'll let the excerpt stand for itself, the link to the interview is provided to for those who desire to learn more about the excerpt and what more precisely he is expressing.

The reflection #

The words Vervaeke used to describe the core of love struck me. His articulation of love evoked a visceral response in me. Poetry. I desire this, both for myself and for my partner. Yes, this is what it means to love someone. Well, it is one expression of it. A sacred, safe, trusted place within myself for another. Bound up forever together as we journey, to learn about ourself, about ourselves. I need that. I want to provide that. A vow to make. A commitment to each other. A north star to guide our relationship as we wander, get off track, and find our way back. By the grace of God may I. May we.

Back to where it started #

Vervaeke is borrowing language describing our relationship with God. Space within us so that the son of God is born within us. After concluding the previous section, where I invoke the grace of God, my thoughts are only complete by circling back and noting this space we allow in us seems contingent on us first having this space in us which God can take hold and grow, so that his grace works out of us from within. I don't know how else we will be able to trust and maintain safe spaces while we do come to know ourselves and each other. To have a space within us where another is able to reside in some ways seems like a organ transplant. It is only with medication our body will not reject the new organ. It is with the grace of God I will not reject another as I maintain a space with myself for them.

By the grace of God