The greatest gift you can give another is a piece of your deepest self.
Not your time. Not your money; but something more precious still.
Is it understanding, or compassion, or attention that you offer? Is there a word bringing these together?
Love?
That piece you offer freely, that is the gift. You offer without reservation. You say ‘Do with it as you will’, though, of course, you hope and trust the other treads lightly.
And that’s the risk you take…
…and the pain you can inflict.
Took me a while to wrap my head around the last line and then a book by Dostoevsky that I read 2 weeks ago came to my mind and thats when I finally understood! Or so I think!
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I think you are thinking too hard..😃 What book, and maybe I will know what you think I mean? What I meant is really straight forward. But I am interested in your interpretation.
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😀😀 Maybe I did think too hard! When you say ‘ …and the pain you can inflict’… ; do you mean pain inflicted on self or pain inflicted on the other person?
Self inflicted I can very well understand coz I have been there and done that. Gave away myself and the power to own my emotions to the other person and God knows what a train wreck he made me into when he left.
If it was the other way around, then ‘Notes from the underground’ makes sense. It is a twisted book which made me recoil with horror at the naked truth he writes about humans in general. How we give away our deepest self to others and toy with them and make them do as is our wont. In the end by giving ourselves to them we end up hurting the other party. And even going on to enjoy the other person flinching in pain.
What did you mean?
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I was hoping you would say Notes. One of my all time favourite treatments of existentialism. I have a lot to say on the underground man, and i have actually been working on a post on the topic. But it will take time to get just right.
Really interesting you picked up that book recently. Any special reason?
I have to say i do not read anything from Notes from Underground in my little piece. I will have to think more about that. But what i was trying to convey was just a very basic truth: not only can we give ourselves selflessly and risk getting hurt, but we can also receive the selfless gift of another, and can, therefore, also harm them….i was thinking the harm would be accidental, as in taking the other person for granted and abusing their gift, but the idea of harming consciously is intriguing. I need to think about it more and try to tie it into Notes from Underground. I think you may have a very interesting point here!
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Thank you! And here I thought you might find my point of view crazy!
To tell you the truth, I have had a life filled with abuses of all kinds. You can read about it in my post All roads lead to you…
So I can’t trust easily. Creature of habit you see! Hence I catch things of dual nature in seemingly normal writings too. My angle of thought is sometimes inane but many a times it presents a different view. Not that I get to share it often!😍
Notes from the Underground came to me via a fellow blogger. I have an omnibus edition of Dostoevsky and had already read 3 of his best works. Then I read a review of Notes and it piqued my interest. It was a challenging read but I absolutely loved it! I even thought it ended a little too quickly!
I am beyond thrilled you are doing a piece on Notes. You seem the right candidate to do it. I would love to know what your mind made of it!
Hey Matthew, would you mind me going through your previous work? I am intrigued as what interesting stuff might be there in store for me.
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That is very true. Nice post
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Thank you. A simple post for a simple reminder.
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So I went on this marathon reading session of your work here. Except for the song lyrics I think I am up to date!
I find you as interesting as an abstract piece of art Matthew. The more you look the more intriguing it gets. Just when think you finally get it, you realize you are no where close to even the starting line!
You, my friend are exactly like that gorgeous piece of glorious abstractness. I am so happy I found your blog. Your Kafkaesque spin to every heartfelt post is why I will keep reading you!
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Dear Lalitha,
this is one of the nicest things anyone has ever said to me. You have touched me at a deep and meaningful level and I am grateful. Thank you so so much.
This week is my last before vacation. During vacation I look forward to delving into your blog and to finalize some more detailed blogs I am preparing. Let us keep in touch!
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Oh! Don’t be so kind! Your work touched a part of me I keep very well hidden from my own family and sometimes my own self!
Reading your thoughts has helped me put my own darkness into some semblance. I have always beaten myself for being so distorted and disjointed from everyone and everything. Reading you gave me perspective and courage to forgive myself.
So Thank you Matthew, you have no clue how helpful your work has been to me!
I’m getting free therapy here! You bet I ll keep in touch!
And Happy Holidays! Eagerly waiting for you to visit my blog and for your new posts!
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