Relationships and the Possible

simone weil discusses the wonder of sentience in the Creation as the miracle of infinite possibility. we, as sentient beings, are the only means that exist of experiencing the possible.

but not only do we experience the possible, we actively create it.

when we two people find themselves loving each other, they realize the possible. in relationships, dynamics are born that could not exist otherwise. we think of our most meaningful relationships as having unique dimensions of feeling. this is not to say that any relationship can ever be wholly unique. as social beings, we relate to each other always through what is and has been, even if we reject these things, the hegemonic and structural, rejection is still in reference to salient cultural meaning. however, meaningful relationships stand apart from others as special, important, and somehow not commonplace–qualitatively new.

and the possibilities continue to unfold as relationships change us. we come to know the kinds of people we do and do not wish to be, the people we can and cannot be, through relationships. we are challenged to consider new ways of being and patterns of thought through relationships, and as we are emotionally invested, we are more apt to accept the challenge of understanding these ways of being and reconciling them with our own. we are newly born in relationships.

being in a meaningful relationship entails being in a state of constant reckoning. we invest ourselves through love in newness. the newness of ourselves, our partners, the relationship.

zora neale hurston says that when in love, a person’s “soul comes out of its hiding place.” her view of subjecthood is an essentialist one. the self remains constant. a person’s everyday performances of self in fact safeguard an essential and unchanging soul, that will, under the right circumstances, manifest.

what i posit is this:

is not the soul a product of the relationship?
and is that not as beautiful as a soul in hiding?

is falling in love something other than falling in love with our human way of illuminating new corners of the possible?