The Split-Apart Story

     Once upon a time, says Plato, things were different.

We each walked around as dual-beings, the components of two human bodies crafted seamlessly into one. In this form, we possessed strength and wholeness. We were quick. Strong. Smart. We were complete, and thus, we were ambitious in our quests. As intact, independent beings we felt few needs here on earth and so turned our eyes to the heavens.

And it was for this very reason the gods on Mount Olympus sliced us all in two - to diminish the threat that we would scale the cliffs up to their dwelling. The gods fiercely attacked and severed us each in two. In a chaos of panic we were all scattered, lost and lonely without our other half. And so, with each human-being separated and scrambled, humanity was distracted from the pursuit of the gods and condemned to a life of searching for their "other".

Wandering.

Seeking.

Needing.

Plato's symposium offers one explanation for something that seems to have plagued humanity since the beginning of time.

The need for love. The need for intimacy. The need for somebody else.

Why do we have a need for another human being to understand us and accept us to our very core?

While modern humans as a whole seem to outwardly strive for autonomy and independence and a strong "sense of self", I see people every day who simply don't WANT to be utterly independent or autonomous or self-reliant. . .

Myself included.

We all remember Catherine Earnshaw's heart-wrenching cry: "I am Heathcliff! He's always, always in my mind: not as a pleasure, any more than I am always a pleasure to myself, but as my own being. . . he's more myself than I am. Whatever our souls are made out of, his and mine are the same."

To be who you are on your own is entirely different (and much harder) than to be who you are with someone - for someone - and because of someone.

Love, in this context, seems more like a torment than a delight, yet we all want it. . .

ADMIT IT!!! YOU WANT IT TOO!!!

And we are all willing to deal with the side effects of being drugged in love. We deal with the jealousy, the need, the grief, the heartache.

We know that the odds are low we've found someone to scale the heavens with forever. Even the greatest of lovers who seemed to find their "missing half" eventually end up in heartbroken shambles. Romeo and Juliet. Heathcliff and Catherine. Blah blah, blah blah, and blah blah.

Yet . . . we look. We can't help it.

You all go on and on about being "content" and "comfortable with yourselves" and "enjoying life alone". . .

And maybe you are. But maybe, secretly, you're a sucker like I am.