A Spiritual Relationship Imagined…

A short essay on an ideal that may never be reached

J. Marshall

Meditation would be a key component to everything. There could be a perfect, one hundred thousand dollar, bright, beautifully designed kitchen, with white marble countertops and wooden cabinets perfectly color-coordinated, and it wouldn’t mean shit without meditation being a key component. I’m talking about meditation for the couple that lives in this gorgeous house that encompasses this kitchen. And we’re not just talking about the lame meditation routine of some run-of-the-mill clickbait techniques that this couple has chosen because an algorithm plucked a scam, clickbait article out of obscurity and splashed it right on the front page of a social media site that the couple happens to frequent.

No, I’m talking about meditation that works because the young couple has done the work to make sure the techniques are effective. Things are right in this home because the man and the woman are already peaceful, without needing anything from their external world — including each other — to assist with that peace. They each wake up next to each other, feeling a childish type of glee, that’d be inexplicable if they each weren’t utterly aware of the cause of these feelings. Because of this they look at the other with nothing but pure love when they first lay eyes on each other in the morning.

Whether they meditate in the same room or they choose separate areas in their living space, there’s an unspoken understanding of giving the other the space they need to perform whatever morning ritual best sets them up for the day. When they meet in the kitchen, after they’re consciousness routines, they joke, they touch on maybe a few serious things that they need to get done, they hug each other, they spend time at the kitchen counter or table eating breakfast and talking. Merely being present around each other is creating a better inner state of being for each of them before they head off to work, watch a show together, or whatever’s on the agenda for the day.

Each person lives free, even inside of a relationship. There is no obligation, no expectation. It’s simply presence. Presence in the morning, presence in every encounter, from the couch, on the phone, at the beach, at dinner. ‘I’m good and I see you,’ the other person’s expression seems to say. ‘I don’t need anything from you, I don’t want anything from you. Other than to enjoy the time I am fortunate enough to have with you.’

There’s no need for fights because each person is always open to listen, to understand the other side, even if a particular viewpoint is radically different from their own. This might seem an impossible thing in society today, but it really isn’t. The question is can each side form the habit of looking inward before the connection, before the relationship? Can a woman and a man be made whole by surrender before a relationship is even a thing? Well, I guess that’s up to the ones involved.

J. Marshall