The Balance Between Separation and Connection

I’ve been reading some stuff on balance and connection in relationships. Taking an academic consensus of what a romantic connection is, and what intimacy really means. And I think the best answer is found in the balance between separation and connection. We’re reminded by this, not in academia, but in the human spirit, in the stars that make us perfectly imperfect. You know you’ve emotionally connected with the right person when the two of you have so many differences, yet have the desire to find a way to embrace those differences and make them the foundation of a growing relationship. Through intimacy we bond. It’s the love of honesty, your partner and your self, that keeps it all together. 

“Love one another, but make not a bond of love Let it rather be a moving sea between the shores of your souls. Fill each other’s cup but drink not from one cup. Give one another of your bread but eat not from the same loaf. Sing and dance together and be joyous. But let each one of you be alone, Even as the strings of a lute are alone though they quiver with the same music. Give your hearts, but not into each other’s keeping. For only the hand of life can contain your hearts. And stand together yet not too near together; For the pillars of the temple stand apart. And the oak tree and the cypress grow not in each other’s shadow. Let there be spaces in your togetherness, And let the winds of the heavens dance between you. Love one another, but make not a bond of love." -Kahlil Gibran, The Prophet