Tuesday, June 24, 2008

The Keeper of the Heart

Not so long ago, a young woman's heart wanted a special man to possess it, to hold onto it for safekeeping. The woman gave the man her heart in a jar and said, "Please take good care of it." He took it, and for years the heart was happy to be owned by the man it loved. The man talked to the heart every day. He took it with him outside often, to show it his garden, and sometimes he'd put it under the rain so the heart could hear the pitter-patter upon the top of its jar. And the heart swelled with glee to be loved so tenderly by the man, and it pumped, as alive as it had ever been, each time he picked the jar up to admire it. It was, after all, his little heart, and he was extremely proud to call it his own. Often the heart would skip a beat just to hear his voice say, "Hello, my precious heart."

One day, however, the man began to lose interest in the heart. He started to leave it inside the house, on a dark counter top in the kitchen, forgetting to bring it with him outside into the garden. The heart sank, and felt a loneliness more profound than it had known before it had been given to the man. It missed the sound of his voice, and pined to feel the pierce of his blue eyes once more.

Every night the man would walk through the kitchen, and he'd pass by the heart without even glancing at it. He failed completely, now, to notice the heart. This went on for months, until finally the heart lay still inside the jar, completely broken.

26 comments:

Anonymous said...

Thanks Sophia,

That is a beautiful reminder for me to take care of my own heart, and others. Perhaps in the end we will become reponsible for every heart in the world.

Sophia said...

I'm happy you enjoyed it. Take good care of your heart and only give it to someone you trust.

V said...

Many men are very good to their women. It's the women who don't like that much attention.
Women are hard-wired to seek new attention and greater challenge.
Yes. That's right. No.

Sophia said...

Maybe the answer is to give a little bit of attention, and then withhold it every now and then. That seems to keep some people interested. That in itself is a challenge for the person seeking the attention.

V said...

Give a little and step back. And see what happens.
Too much security is bad. It leads to boredom.

Sophia said...

How do you know these things? Have you had some experience?

I wonder if you were on the giving or receiving end.

V said...

I'm trying to learn. And I am learning.
It probably has something to do with playing with people emotions. Creating that gut-feeling attraction.
Fear and excitement.

Sophia said...

Why would you want to play with people's emotions?

V said...

To prevent boredom. To give her or him spice and drama. Essential to romance. Perhaps.

Sophia said...

This is one of the themes to my latest short story. Witholding attention to keep the other person interested. It's like some kind of reverse psychology.

V said...

Good luck!

Sophia said...

I don't do that, but others might. I'm usually up front and honest about my feelings, to my detriment. I'm not clever enough to play psychological games with people.

V said...

You have to unnice yourself.

Sophia said...

But that's who I am. It would take too much energy to be someone I'm not. Besides, I have to be true to myself.

V said...

But you can always change. Allow change. Let it happen.

Sophia said...

Can my personality change? Possibly. But the essence of who I am will not change. It is an unchanging form. It is the Self that is the skeletal foundation of the I.

V said...

There is no Self. Only I.
Well if you mean by Self Intelligence. Then yes.
It's a matter of theory and terms. Nothing else.

Sophia said...

Everything is Intelligence. It must have at least been intelligent enough to bring itself into existence, unless it was always there. It's difficult for me to imagine something ALWAYS being there. But then, something can't come from nothing.

Maybe the only reason it's difficult to imagine something always being, is because I'm a being who won't always be. At least not in this form, anyway.

Unknown said...

The idea of giving attention and then withholding it is counterproductive in many cases.

It doesn't create excitement, rather it leads to uncertainty and in the end someone who chooses to leave because they can't take the constant playing of their emotions.

Alternatively it leads to someone who then can no longer take future relationships at face value because they're never sure when the new person is going to withhold the caring and affection they so desire and need, so they are clingy thus creating a perpetual cycle where nothing is ever as it could have been from the beginning.

It's callous and hurtful for the sake of spice and drama that wasn't necessary to begin with.

V said...

But I think boredom is even worse. Could be the reason why we have lots of divorce.
But anyway too much spice and drama could lead to the same thing. If there is total indifference. Like when people don't give a damn anymore. And end up falling out of love.

Sophia said...

Christi,

One would think that someone who plays these mind games with others is someone who is really afraid of love or close emotional bonding. I think they are emotionally sadistic and enjoy feeding off people's clinging. It makes them feel more important.

I'm waiting to hear back from you about going out again. I'm ready when you are!

Sophia said...

Siegfried,

Boredom probably has a lot to do with it. Some people just don't have the know-how when it comes to recreating excitement in an old relationship.

V said...

We all play the game. Trying to be nice is a form of manipulation. In order to get what one wants. Like attention, affection, or sex. Nice guys don't get what they want because women can see thru their niceness.

Sophia said...

What about when one doesn't try to be nice? For instance, what if someone is just naturally nice? There are no hidden devices there.

Unknown said...

I'll be up in your neck of the woods Tuesday, maybe if Ras can work from home all day we can meet for lunch before I have to head over for my BPP and NST with the midwife?

I'll talk to him and see if he's up for it, and you just let me know if you're up for it and we'll go from there.

Love ya,
~ Chris

Sophia said...

Hi Chris,

Tuesday is great! Please let me know where you'd like to go for lunch. If Ras can't watch the kids, Chuck-e-cheese is fine with me.

Just let me know when and where and I'll be there. I'm looking forward to seeing you again. I miss your beautiful smiling face. :)