I Am Like the Vine

". . .When the Buddha taught his First Noble Truth, he elaborated the gnawing sense of incompleteness that underlies much of our experience. As if he were describing the Second Law of Thermodynamics (that every isolated thing is moving toward a more disorganized state) or Freud's reality principle (that pleasure cannot be maintained indefinitely but must always give way to unpleasure), the Buddha evoked the unrest, instability and uncertainty that color our lives. In the face of these qualities, which he called the three marks of existence, we all feel yearning or longing. In the psychodynamic world, this yearning or longing is sometimes described in the language of the psychoanalyst Melanie Klein, as the depressive position. In the curious reverse language of psychoanalysis, the depressive position is considered a developmental achievement because it acknowledges the feelings that come with an acceptance of separateness. The ability to see things the way they are, not to expect constant gratification but to understand that all things are limited, is what allows for personal growth. . ."

("Open to Desire" by Mark Epstein, M.D.)\

I have so much trouble with this, with accepting separateness. I want to be one with everything. With everyone. I don't want to be an individual connecting with other individuals...it's scary. I know this is illogical, irrational. But still, I feel it.

This gets in the way of relationships. With friends, with lovers. With family. These rose colored glasses I wear, they keep me in a state of denial. And then I can't ever see anyone for who they really are, and in trying to pull them into myself, I keep them at bay.

Interestingly, this seems similar to the stage Ravenna is going through. She is beginning to understand that she and I are not one, that she is an individual separate from me. And she does not like it. It makes her anxious, and she clings to me.

I, in turn, cling to everyone around me.

I am like the vine.