H: A bit of reading.

At the risk of giving too much of our ceremony away before the big reveal (aka THE big day), I wanted to share this piece that will be read at our wedding. Mostly I think this is because I'm afraid it may be too long and need to be shortened, and just in case that happens it deserves to be posted here in its' entirety.

It’s from Plato’s Symposium:

Humans have never understood the power of Love, for if they had they would surely have built noble temples and altars and offered solemn sacrifices; but this is not done, and most certainly ought to be done, since Love is our best friend, our helper, and the healer of the ills which prevent us from being happy.

To understand the power of Love, we must understand that our original human nature was not like it is now, but different. Human beings each had two sets of arms, two sets of legs, and two faces looking in opposite directions. There were three sexes then: one comprised of two men called the children of the Sun, one made of two women called the children of the Earth, and a third made of a man and a woman, called the children of the Moon. Due to the power and might of these original humans, the Gods began to fear that their reign might be threatened. They sought for a way to end the humans’ insolence without destroying them.

It was at this point that Zeus divided the humans in half. After the division the two parts of each desiring their other half, came together, and throwing their arms about one another, entwined in mutual embraces, longing to grow into one. So ancient is the desire of one another which is implanted in us, reuniting our original nature, making one of two, and healing the state of humankind.

Each of us when separated, having one side only, is but the indenture of a person, and we are always looking for our other half. Those whose original nature lies with the children of the Sun are men who are drawn to other men, those from the children of the Earth are women who love other women, and those from the children of the Moon are men and women drawn to one another. And when one of us meets our other half, we are lost in an amazement of love and friendship and intimacy, and would not be out of the others sight even for a moment. We pass our whole lives together, desiring that we should be melted into one, to spend our lives as one person instead of two, and so that after our death there will be one departed soul instead of two; this is the very expression of our ancient need. And the reason is that human nature was originally one and we were a whole, and the desire and pursuit of the whole is called Love.

I understand this so completely that I cry when I read it. Heck, even skimming over a few lines gets me going and I'm talking waterworks here, folks. It's one of the things that explains the inexplicable about love, something that I feel so deeply and so completely for Josh that there was no other reading that I would rather have at my wedding. Luckily, Josh agrees!
This piece also allows for us to engage our views that any two people who feel this way too should have the same legal rights as we do.
We're still on the lookout for another piece to be read, hopefully from the Bible. We're not sure what yet. The old stand-by Corinthians is nice with the "love is patient, love is kind". You know the one. It's not any less true, and we can certainly agree with the sentiment, but unfortunately like every pot roast I've ever made, it's overdone.
The search is on!!!