Meretlein
Moderator
- Feb 15, 2019
- 1,199
Whenever we form a close relationship, we create a bridge that links our mental worlds together. It is a bridge made up of inside jokes, joyous moments, secrets that we told them in moments of trust, and tender moments of emotional support.
Tragically, all the bridges we build come to an end. Last summer, one of the bridges I built with a person I treasured disintegrated. Her name was Madeline. I met her through the late mod @Alchemist, and we quickly became close friends. Talking to her was like coming home to a warm bed after a long day out in the cold. Madeline provided me with unconditional acceptance, and we would speak to each other about topics that we did not dare share with anyone else. We visited New York City last spring, and it was the first time in years that I had felt like a normal person. Last summer, she killed herself. It has been months since her death, and I continue to grow and change. There is so much I want to tell her about; a world of my thoughts has nowhere to go. I often find my mind wandering to the bridge we once had, only to remember that there is nothing.
I think about death and the fleeting nature of life a lot. We bloom like flowers, springing forth with zestful determination, only to wither away. Indeed all that arises must decay. Our lives are but a blip on the cosmic scale, yet they are all we will ever perceive, from birth to death, start to finish. When we die, time might as well have stopped. Life is a bubble of eternity from our own perspective. This is how I personally interpret Rumi's beautifully poetic statement "You are not a drop in the ocean; you are the entire ocean in a drop." It is both the beauty and terror of our symbolic worlds.
I am immensely grateful to have connected to so many beautiful souls both on SS and outside of it. There are people in my personal life, many of who I have not spoken to in years, that I treasure. I cherish the interlocking highway of minds that we built as a group.
Tragically, all the bridges we build come to an end. Last summer, one of the bridges I built with a person I treasured disintegrated. Her name was Madeline. I met her through the late mod @Alchemist, and we quickly became close friends. Talking to her was like coming home to a warm bed after a long day out in the cold. Madeline provided me with unconditional acceptance, and we would speak to each other about topics that we did not dare share with anyone else. We visited New York City last spring, and it was the first time in years that I had felt like a normal person. Last summer, she killed herself. It has been months since her death, and I continue to grow and change. There is so much I want to tell her about; a world of my thoughts has nowhere to go. I often find my mind wandering to the bridge we once had, only to remember that there is nothing.
I think about death and the fleeting nature of life a lot. We bloom like flowers, springing forth with zestful determination, only to wither away. Indeed all that arises must decay. Our lives are but a blip on the cosmic scale, yet they are all we will ever perceive, from birth to death, start to finish. When we die, time might as well have stopped. Life is a bubble of eternity from our own perspective. This is how I personally interpret Rumi's beautifully poetic statement "You are not a drop in the ocean; you are the entire ocean in a drop." It is both the beauty and terror of our symbolic worlds.
I am immensely grateful to have connected to so many beautiful souls both on SS and outside of it. There are people in my personal life, many of who I have not spoken to in years, that I treasure. I cherish the interlocking highway of minds that we built as a group.
