Let me not to the marriage of true mind, by William
Shakespeare
A blog exposition by
Alan Ewing
Firstly, Sonnet 116 itself, a slow absorbtion of the words, followed by a second reading, then read my paragraphs below, then returning to the Sonnet, as the rhythm of the language flows as you get used to it:
Let me not to the
marriage of true minds
Admit impediments.
Love is not love
Which alters when it
alteration finds,
Or bends with the
remover to remove.
O no! it is an
ever-fixed mark
That looks on
tempests and is never shaken;
It is the star to
every wand'ring bark,
Whose worth's
unknown, although his height be taken.
Love's not Time's
fool, though rosy lips and cheeks
Within his bending
sickle's compass come;
Love alters not with
his brief hours and weeks,
But bears it out
even to the edge of doom.
If this be error and
upon me prov'd,
I never writ, nor no
man ever lov'd.
Outside of the Bible then Shakespeare is the ultimate writer about the sheer nature of love. In Shakespeare this is romantic love, whereas The New Testament deals primiarily with general love. Sonnet 116 is about the stability of true love. A marriage indeed. One in which the lovers can face every trial that life may bring, every test that fate might throw into their path. Love does not change in the face of such change, else it is not true love. Love is like a fixed star that is immovable.
Time cannot affect love if it is true. For it grows within time. Shakespeare is telling us that fickle fancies will also not interfere with the course of true love. When it is entwined then it is rooted in such a way as to be the foundation stone of life itself. Companionship, friendship and loyalty are enshrined within it, through good times and bad. Love can conquer every hardship, even when all seems lost, and is the most powerful force that we ever encounter in our lives, when it is true. If not, says Shakespeare, then he, The Bard, was never a writer.
Is our past self our present self? For the universe is in Fluxus Quo. It is in a constant state of change. Brought to mind by my recently turning 60, the point at which metabolism ceases to regenerate. What then? Is this the change that sees the ebbing away of the old human body? The New Testament teaches us that we evolve into a new spiritual state:
I Corinthians 35-49: (NIV)
35 But someone will ask, “How are the dead raised? With what kind of body will they come?”36 How foolish! What you sow does not come to life unless it dies.37 When you sow, you do not plant the body that will be, but just a seed, perhaps of wheat or of something else.38 But God gives it a body as he has determined, and to each kind of seed he gives its own body.39 Not all flesh is the same: People have one kind of flesh, animals have another, birds another and fish another.40 There
are also heavenly bodies and there are earthly bodies; but the splendor
of the heavenly bodies is one kind, and the splendor of the earthly
bodies is another.41 The sun has one kind of splendor, the moon another and the stars another; and star differs from star in splendor.
42 So will it be with the resurrection of the dead. The body that is sown is perishable, it is raised imperishable;43 it is sown in dishonor, it is raised in glory; it is sown in weakness, it is raised in power;44 it is sown a natural body, it is raised a spiritual body.
If there is a natural body, there is also a spiritual body.45 So it is written: “The first man Adam became a living being”[a]; the last Adam, a life-giving spirit.46 The spiritual did not come first, but the natural, and after that the spiritual.47 The first man was of the dust of the earth; the second man is of heaven.48 As was the earthly man, so are those who are of the earth; and as is the heavenly man, so also are those who are of heaven.49 And just as we have borne the image of the earthly man, so shall we[b] bear the image of the heavenly man.
So we evolve. What we evolve into will be defined by our present self. The present, though is always changing. The universe itself expands, and when contractions arrive, will then start to reverse in time, according to the latest scientic theory. All that is becomes as it was. In following this through then self is a myriad of states. We cannot alter the past, for that would go against the physical laws of the universe. We can only affect the present which, as observed, is constantly changing. In conclusion, our persona is never fixed at any point in time
Having been diagnosed with this mental health condition this week, then my purpose here is to give some explanation about the condition. First though, it is with relief that I finally have a mental health diagnosis, given years of exploring various medicines and therapies to find an answer. Now, at last I can receive the correct medicines and treatments for a condition that has mentally plagued me for years. It is also a massive weight lifted to be able to tell family and friends why I often behave in the way that I do. Like not wanting to talk or chat at certain times, like appearing anti-social, or over-wrought. A long period of self-isolation, five years, has taken place in order to get the answers as to why I have had disastrous relationship break-ups, which then in turn affect the condition. And as to why there are times when I wish to withdraw from society.
Emotion Dysregulation, is, in simple terms an inability to process emotional feelings and control them in response to provocative stimuli. The effect of this is a response which can be hostile, or temperamental brewing to anger in certain situations. Whereas, a person with Emotional Regulation can quickly gauge when emotions are going wild, then the person with Emotional Dysregulation is unable to gather rationality once the emotions have been aroused. This can then result in irrational behavior and creation of conflict. Confusion reigns as loss of reality takes place with a series of emotions that swing from one place to another. This causes problems in close relationships, as patterns of behavior change.
An illustration of how Emotional Dysfunctuality operates, usually with the front locus of the brain, is shown in this diagram. A burst of creative energy can often lead to be a sense of overwhelming, which can then result in a straight collapse. A disappointment or let-down, or a point of conflict with a close person can then result in an eruption, which will then be followed by angst. A root cause of Emotional Dysfunctionality stems from anxiety disorder. A sense of not being able to get things right, to get communication across and concerns about how other people are being treated. This can lead to extreme self-isolation.
The next diagram illustrates how this path maps itself out, as emotions explode with no self-awareness, followed by a complete lack of self-control.
The condition should not be confused with bi-polar, as that has periods of low despairing moods alternating with manic episodes. Rather Emotional Dysregulation has its motions through anxiety related disorder. It also has roots in psychological and emotional trauma that may have taken place throughout life and these may have caused the condition to grow. The nature of close relationships in life will have a huge impact. Damage can be severely inflicted by abusive or malicious intent from others.
