Romantic Awareness
by Rev. Cory Bradford-Watts
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Readings
Song of Solomon 1:15-17
Behold, you are beautiful, my love;
behold, you are beautiful;
your eyes are doves.
Behold, you are beautiful, my beloved, truly delightful.
Our couch is green;
the beams of our house are cedar;
our rafters are pine.
2:4-17
He brought me to the banqueting house,
and his banner over me was love.
Sustain me with raisins;
refresh me with apples,
for I am sick with love.
His left hand is under my head,
and his right hand embraces me!
I adjure you, O daughters of Jerusalem,
by the gazelles or the does of the field,
that you not stir up or awaken love
until it pleases.
The voice of my beloved!
Behold, he comes,
leaping over the mountains,
bounding over the hills.
My beloved is like a gazelle
or a young stag.
Behold, there he stands
behind our wall,
gazing through the windows,
looking through the lattice.
My beloved speaks and says to me:
“Arise, my love, my beautiful one,
and come away,
for behold, the winter is past;
the rain is over and gone.
The flowers appear on the earth,
the time of singing has come,
and the voice of the turtledove
is heard in our land.
The fig tree ripens its figs,
and the vines are in blossom;
they give forth fragrance.
Arise, my love, my beautiful one,
and come away.
O my dove, in the clefts of the rock,
in the crannies of the cliff,
let me see your face,
let me hear your voice,
for your voice is sweet,
and your face is lovely.
Catch the foxes for us,
the little foxes
that spoil the vineyards,
for our vineyards are in blossom.”
My beloved is mine, and I am his;
he grazes among the lilies.
Until the day breathes
and the shadows flee,
turn, my beloved, be like a gazelle
or a young stag on cleft mountains.
7:10-13
I am my beloved's,
and his desire is for me.
Come, my beloved,
let us go out into the fields
and lodge in the villages;
let us go out early to the vineyards
and see whether the vines have budded,
whether the grape blossoms have opened
and the pomegranates are in bloom.
There I will give you my love.
The mandrakes give forth fragrance,
and beside our doors are all choice fruits,
new as well as old,
which I have laid up for you, O my beloved.
Read the written message below
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I think we can often find the essence of Divinity, no matter our belief tradition, in our romantic and loving relationships – although sometimes we can allow our yearning for love or sexual connection to bring us out of the moment and away from healthy connection. Indeed, many ancient spiritual teachings (including many Tantras) encourage us to engage with life itself, our every moment, with present, loving engagement, for our own spiritual health and the health of our families. Coming into the moment and letting go of distracted thinking, yearning, and worries, allows us to be present to our loved ones and ourselves in new and surprising ways, as it also helps us to heal our hearts and minds in loving connection with the spiritual light and warmth of God, known by many names.
Core Biblical and Tantric ideas about romance and love center on the every day, encouraging us to engage with the little things through the lens of loving awareness while embracing the wholeness of Spirit within. We see this in the poetically romantic musings of the Biblical book, Song of Solomon, as it relates romantic love and the beauty of a partner with appreciation for the beauty of life itself, our natural environment, and even our living spaces.
Expanding our own romantic idealism in such a way can be a key for our own engagement with the present moment, as well as a renewed lens on love and life, as it helps us to feel encouraged to feel, enjoy, and love even amidst the once mundane. Through this we can start engaging with the Divine Presence of our Beloved in everything, as well as through our other beloveds, instead of relegating the deeply nourishing feelings of compassion, romance, and connection to only certain special moments, our sexual feelings, or specific relationships in our lives.
A romantic approach to life (in the same vein as the Romantic era), like in a poem, lends itself to the mysterious beauty of the small things – which helps us break down our dismissive feelings of “knowing” about everything. It’s this dismissive knowing about our environments and relationships – feelings of having analyzed, dissected, already experienced, judged, and disregarded – that can, unfortunately, help propel our thoughts away from a compassionate present awareness and into feelings of fear, lust, boredom, anger, and agitation. In those moments we’re told that we would do well to recentre on romantic awareness, letting the deeply analytical conceptual thoughts fade naturally while rediscovering our intrinsic clarity of consciousness.
Like in a deeply loving relationship, romantic awareness invites us to more deeply internalize the spiritual idea that we are one with what we love and Love Itself. Further, as this awareness encourages our loving acceptance of everything in the moment, we start to internalize the ubiquitous idea of a loving compassion that Christ encouraged, and which has been promoted as a key characterization of enlightenment in some indigenous spiritualities, as well as both Buddhism and Hinduism. This is the same as starting to love and accept the truth that God is present within all things, even the smallest details, and that Divinity shines through in every providential moment – even though our freedom must allow for destructive and hurtful actions and intentions at times.
Funny enough, I think that it’s no coincidence that the interfaith-Christian mystic Emanuel Swedenborg inspired many of the notable writers and poets that marked the Romantic era, around the turn of the 19th century, such as Balzac and Nathaniel Hawthorne, and later, the early abstract naturalist Hilma af Klint (see her art in the image for today’s service) and the transcendentalist Ralph Waldo Emerson. In his writings, Swedenborg explores the poetic, loving nature of the universe and spirituality, pointing to how the inherent symbolism in the natural world and our minds connects directly with the language and form of love, heaven, scripture, and a loving Divinity that speaks through all things. These artists found inspiration in that vision and created works that speak to our interconnectivity that still resounds with us today, helping us tune into the beauty and love that is life.
Just as quantum physics tells us, everything we perceive and everything in the universe is a part of us. Romantic life, with a partner or with God, is the pleasure and motivation we find when we start to engage with the reality of that oneness in deep and healthy ways, finding that our shared Spirit echoes within and through everything. As we realize there’s nothing we can lose or essentially gain in this oneness, our minds can find rest in the sheer bliss of present awareness in loving connection with everything that comes. And as we find peace and a loving compassion for all, we can start to truly transform our world into the image and likeness of Divine heavenly love – letting go of oppressive, scarcity-driven, bigoted, and unrehabilitative modes of being.
Coming into the moment with loving engagement allows us to be there for our loved ones in ways that may surprise us, while perhaps making loved ones out of everyone and everything. Often our habitual interactions with others lack reflection and can be skewed by defensiveness, fear, judgment, and selfish ideas. But, like a good date, if we stay present to our mutual love in selflessness and interconnectedness, we can find renewed inspiration and life in our daily engagement with family and friends – finding, appreciating, and further magnifying God in even the small things.
Peace and care to you,
Rev. Cory