Almost instantly another image came to mind. A roof, a perfectly square one, sustained by 4 pillars in each corner. If one pillar collapses, the whole roof comes down. Please let’s stay in the metaphoric domain with this imagery, physics is for something else.
Imagine now that two pillars on one side are mine (creativity and curiosity) and the other two pillars, on her side (still creativity and curiosity) are hers. Possessing, owning these is important, but it’s not enough. This is called full possession, and comes with delights and responsibility. We both had to take ownership of our curiosity, maintain it, sharpen it, and never let it change into something else or evaporate, lest our common roof would collapse. And it was the same story for creativity. It had to be owned and maintained. These four pillars when owned, when one owns them with mindfulness, they come alive. I dare say they have a four way symbiotic relationship. Two people in love can stay in love for a long time as long as they can maintain this symbiotic relationship alive and shining.
Is this easy? Is this natural? Is it something that we do instinctively? No. It requires effort, introspective effort and continuous awareness. It requires a life taken as an exploratory journey, not without dangers, full of potential wonders or perils, waiting for us at every step. One must be mindful and brave to embark on this journey. Very few can, very few do. Fortunately for our race, floating and drifting still keeps humanity going. But we mustn’t forget that all the floating and drifting happens in waters that had to be discovered and explored first, by those few who dared, and were strong enough to succeed.
What is the chance that two people who are mindful of their curiosity and creativity meet? Comparatively small, I’m sure you’d agree. So then, you ask, what happens in this majority of cases? Two outcomes are the most likely. The relationship breaks down and is acknowledged and ended or the relationship breaks down but it’s never acknowledged and ended. It may in this case become a partnership, mutually acceptable and convenient at the same time. But then the excitement, the sense of fulfilment, the energizing togetherness is not there and we start looking for it somewhere else. Some people find it quicker, some slower, some never. But the craving is always there because I think it’s biological. Maybe we’ve been made like that, otherwise we wouldn’t be.