Two Depths Resounding Together... Beyond Where and Why
Remembering Linda
Mar 17, 2026
LOTUS OF THE HEART
Living in Love beyond Beliefs
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The lyrics of the song are integral to what follows.
Love possesses not nor would it be possessed; for love is sufficient unto love. And think not you can direct the course of love, for love if it finds you worthy, directs your course. Love has no other desire but to fulfill itself.
*Kahlil Gibran. The Prophet.
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The first edition of this musing was penned April 7, 2017; this beloved one, Linda, was pronounced deceased in our hospice house, at the hospice I worked with as a chaplain. Date pronounced deceased is April 2, 2017. Linda had been diagnosed with a brain tumor. Minor editorial changes have been made, none altering the essential content when first composed after Linda left the body. The words refer to one of the last visits I had with her, just before she became bed-ridden.
She sits across from me, on the other side of this table, in her kitchen. Each time I see her, an intense, yet subtle, feeling of Love. Now, more intense, and I want much to reach out and hold her hand, to embody the connection in a way fitting for us. I do not, for I am here to serve her in her time of great need. I am the professional, she the patient. So, I refrain.
I see this Love is not sentimental, nor merely romantic, deeper - some would say spiritual. I choose not to name this, for this is too sacred, too holy, too pure. When together, we are like two depths resounding, one depth calling to the other, and to the other, yet silently, a fluid chorus of loving synchronizing us in inexplicable harmony.
She is soon to leave, physically. I ache with the stretching of my heart to hold this union inside, enjoy it while she is still in the body.
What do I feel - even know - but cannot say? ...
"I already miss you, then more, yes, even more. We seem to have stepped into this space, unchosen by us, to meet at some place we cannot name, and for a reason we do not know. Where is this? Is even saying 'this,' as though a place, appropriate? Why is this happening? Do we need a 'why'?" That is the surrender, possibly, beyond 'where' and 'why.'
"In this Silence is only Love, for this Love is only Silence, even as it plays with the words we choose, shines in our smiles, laughs in our frequent laughter. They say you are dying, yet you are so fully alive, the more so for your body is letting you go. Possibly, finally, we could say this togetherness is 'God,' but that would sound religious or spiritual, and this is neither. Maybe, in time, we will come to see, but not now, not yet. Or, possibly, after time, or beyond time, whatever such is or would be. The questions remain now, for Love does not yield to our answers, only gives Itself to our recognition, even as in some way we give ourselves to each other in this mystery of Love happening, showing Itself to us and hiding from us, at the same time. But we say 'Yes,' yes. 'Why?' I do not know. I need not.
"For a time, I choose to give myself to this blissful Otherness coming to meet us and gifting us with a gift we cannot yet name, possibly never. Possibly, this is a Love beyond love, and must remain so to be Love, so to be this we share beyond 'where' and 'why.'
"Shall I ever say, 'I love you'? Do you already see? Some things, like this, not understood, are known only from within the Heart we share."
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Every word you speak is a candle lit in the Dark leading me Home to my Heart.
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Those who never lose their way, never find this Loving.
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There is a Love beyond the one feeling, knowing - rising through body mind soul to You - yet, You were always here.
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Are you now On the cliff of befuddlement? - I did my best to get you there - Jump from your mind Into this Beauty inside all around us.
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Likely, we each have had questions like... "Will I see my departed loved ones again?" ... "Have they gone somewhere else?" ... "If so, where?" ... "What happens after death?" ... "Since we are within a time-space realm, could there even be an afterlife, seeing the term is a temporal one?"... "Will we reincarnate in another body?" ... I used to have answers to all these questions: "used to." However, I can say one of my most enjoyable ministries in the past, when a pastor and, later, chaplain, was officiating memorial services. I have felt deeply in such times something more real than how what we call reality could ever be. I felt an intimacy indescribable, like the other side was breathing for a moment into this side. Words do not fit such that is an experience but, somehow, outside what we mean by experience.
Well, a world-renowned Benedictine monk and contemplative Catholic, David Steindl-Rast, when age 97, 2023, addressed the concern about after death, in "Afterlife," a section in his book You Are Here. I will share an excerpt -
The concern for life beyond death is often triggered by the question, will we be reunited with our loved ones who have died? Deep love is certainly an attitude not only of our mind-body I but of our innermost Self. And since the Self is imperishable, so is love. This, however, is cold comfort, because it is cold logic, and the question about reunion with our loved ones is not merely intellectual but highly charged with emotions. Wishful thinking won’t get us any closer to certainty, but there is something that will. Here and now, we can strengthen our bonds of love, cultivate and celebrate our awareness that those bonds unite us at the center of our innermost Self. If we do this diligently in daily life, we will hardly have time for idle speculations about an afterlife. The hearts of lovers who practice this love will “rest in peace,” here and now, without worrying about hereafter.
And, in agreement with what he above wrote, in the same book, he wrote, using a key image in the book - dancing...
We do not dance in order to get somewhere.
To me, those words are some of the most important when it comes to questions about an 'afterlife.'
So, Linda and I danced together, and that is enough. It did not need to lead anywhere else. The dance was enough. Yet, in some way, it lives on. I am so thankful we enjoyed the dance together! What a blessing! "Thanks! Linda... I have not forgotten you. And I did as you asked me, when we last met in your home. You and I sat together on your bed. You told me not to grieve your passing. That was a big ask, but I told you I would not. I wanted to honor your wish. I miss you, but I do not grieve. I rejoice in you."
