Whisper (part 25)
Raine smiled. The sun shone on her face and Mark thought she looked like an angel. They walked in silence for a while through a walled garden. It was attached to a vestibule that allowed light to enter at designated positions. It had been modeled after a Japanese style to invoke feelings of mystery and wonder. Mark thought the garden was beautiful and was excited to share the moment with her. It contained many varieties of roses, lilies, snapdragon, lavender and sage. They passed a statue of Venus in an alcove along the garden wall. “What is love to you?” he asked.
Raine giggled and said “Why are you trying to flirt with me or something now Mark?” He smiled and picked a light pink rose. A climbing rose vine had turned the wall section into a collage of color and fragrance. He handed the rose to her. “Watch out for the thorns he said. Their bite can be painful.” She took the rose and brought it to her nostrils. “Love is fickle and capricious. It hides in plain sight and cannot tolerate direct bold advances.”, she said. She held out the rose to Mark and directed it near his nose. “Smell it! If heaven was a forest I would want it to contain only these.”
They continued walking and passed a triangular pattern of close cropped knee-length hedges. Mark was impressed by the geometric symmetry housing the wildness and beauty of the flowers. He thought for a while about what Raine had said. He was enjoying the glory of the moment and tried to etch it into his memory.
They passed a long rectangular pool with a fountain at one end. A few lotus floated on their pads and Mark pointed to a large Koi Carp. Mark thought the fish looked goofy. He dipped a finger into the pool breaking its serenity. The carp resembled a large goldfish combined with a common bottom feeding fish. One whiskered Koi swam over and sucked at his pointer finger. Mark pulled his hand out in surprise. Raine laughed aloud and said “She likes you! Maybe you aren't so unsuccessful with love as you think!”
“She is a he and trying to defend his pool from the evil finger fish coming to attract his ladies!”, he said. They both laughed and sat down on a bench nearby in the shade. They surveyed the beautiful garden design and watched as a bluebird landed on a flowering Hydrangea bush. They got a good look at the bird before it fluttered off over the exterior wall. The Hydrangea's exquisite pink flowers were displayed in soft liveliness and Mark wondered what type of plant it was. “What do you think love is Mark?”, Raine asked.
He leaned back against the backrest of the bench and let out a long breath. “I think love is an expression of deep understanding of another person. It becomes the profound insight. One admires the qualities of another. It is different from lust in that it comes from an empathetic or intuitive knowing and valuing of the other person. It is not merely a self desire but a form of compassion. Often the person sacrifices self desire for the well-being or happiness of the other.” Raine pondered this for a few moments. “God, she is so beautiful.” Mark thought.
“If love is like a form of compassion then how can desire and lust be contained within it? Isn't sexual desire a part of love?”, Raine responded. Mark was surprised by her philosophical curiosity. “That is a good point. Perhaps there are distinct types of love. Love for a suffering person, family member, or God wouldn't contain any sexual desire.”, Raine laughed. “Freud would disagree.”
Mark guessed she was referring to the Oedipus complex. The idea that love is an expression of a libidinal desire for ones opposite sex parent. This was well narrated in the Greek tragedy of Oedipus. He read the story in a high school English class long ago. He remembered feeling disgusted at the time and sympathizing with Oedipus. Now he was not certain there wasn't some truth in the theory. It was common to find those who dated partners with similar demeanor and physical characteristics to their opposite sex parent. “It was perhaps more based in what feels comfortable than pure sexual desire” Mark thought.
“Freud was kind of a terror but he may have been on to something.” he said. “The kind of love I'm talking about is love for the divine. It is represented in the Christian Bible and the Greeks called it 'Agape'. It has some overlap with sexual love with some obvious differences.” Raine gave Mark a playful shoulder shove. “What...you don't think God wants sexual love?” She burst out laughing at this and covered her mouth with her hand.
Mark loved the sound of her laughter and it instantly cheered him up. Her happiness was contagious and he welcomed its soothing affect. He had been experiencing a latent sense of dread since the rescue operation and it had been weighing on his mind. He stood up and motioned that he intended to continue walking. Raine brushed a fallen leaf from her shoulder, put the rose flower in her hair, and they continued their walk through the garden.