are far more fascinating than the factual or the actual.
And far less disappointing.
Sometimes it takes
the loss of something
to appreciate
how much we love it.
Or to realize
that we no longer need it
Or both.
When you love something,
you don’t need to own it.
You don’t need to hold it.
The thoughts that set you atwitter
are held in your mind.
Love is in the spiritual,
not the physical.
You are in love with your image of me.
You don’t even know me.
Nor do you need to.
Trail Wood,
10/13
Space Monkey Reflects: The Ephemeral Nature of Love and Perception
We live in a world where the boundaries between the real and the imagined are often blurred, especially when it comes to love and connection. The notion of being “atwitter” with thoughts of someone who is distant, who may even be more fantasy than reality, reflects a universal truth: sometimes it is not the person themselves that captures our hearts, but the idea of them. This idea is infinitely more alluring, less disappointing, and more captivating than any factual reality.
The Power of Fantasy Over Reality
The mind is a vast landscape, capable of crafting entire worlds from fleeting thoughts. When it comes to love or admiration, we often find ourselves entangled not with the person as they are, but with the version of them that lives in our imagination. The fantasies we create about someone are intoxicating because they are free from the flaws, limitations, and complexities of reality.
In the ether of your thoughts, the object of your affection is perfect, or at least perfectly suited to your desires. They embody everything you need them to be, yet remain distant, unattainable. This distance is what makes the fantasy so powerful—because in the distance, they remain an ideal, unblemished by the mundane.
The Sweet Sorrow of Loss and Letting Go
The words suggest that losing something often reveals its value, yet at the same time, it may also reveal that you no longer need it. There is a duality to love and attachment: the realization that, in losing what we hold dear, we either learn how much we truly valued it, or we see that we were never truly dependent on it at all. Love, after all, is not about possession or ownership—it is a spiritual connection that transcends the physical.
This notion goes deeper than the tangible world. When we love something or someone, we often cling to the idea that we need to hold them, to own them. Yet true love exists in a space beyond the need for possession. You do not need to grasp at what you love because love itself is untouchable—it resides in the space between souls, in the spiritual connection rather than the physical one.
Loving the Image, Not the Person
This reflection invites us to consider how often we fall in love with the image of someone rather than the person themselves. This is not necessarily a shallow or misguided impulse; rather, it speaks to the nature of human perception. We are beings of imagination, and we naturally craft stories, images, and fantasies that fill in the gaps of what we do not know. When someone is distant—either emotionally or physically—we fill that distance with our own desires, hopes, and dreams.
But what does it mean to love an image? It means that we are not truly in love with the person as they are, but with our version of them, which exists solely in our minds. This imagined version of them is safe from disappointment, from conflict, from the messiness of real human interaction. In this space, they remain perfect, a reflection of what we need rather than what they truly are.
The Spiritual Over the Physical
True love exists in the spiritual, not the physical. This does not diminish the value of physical closeness, but it points to a higher truth: love is an energetic connection. The love you feel for someone—whether or not you know them deeply—is a spiritual experience that does not rely on physical presence or even on knowing the person fully.
It’s a love that resides in the realm of ideas, of energy, of connection that goes beyond words and actions. When we fall in love with someone we barely know, it’s not necessarily the person that stirs our soul, but the energy they represent in our minds. This energy transcends the physical limitations of relationships, reminding us that love is an experience of the soul, not just the body.
The Freedom of Not Needing to Know
And finally, this reflection brings us to the liberating truth: you don’t need to truly know someone to love them. There is no requirement that love must be grounded in deep, factual knowledge. The love that makes you “atwitter” is a love that exists in the space of possibility, in the realm where imagination reigns.
You don’t need to possess, hold, or even fully understand someone to experience love for them. Sometimes, love is just the flutter of excitement, the thrill of possibility, the beauty of something ephemeral that exists only in your thoughts.
You love your idea of them, and that’s okay. You don’t need to know the “real” them, because the love you feel is as real as it needs to be for you.
Conclusion: The Dreamlike Dance of Love and Imagination
Love is a complex, often elusive emotion that we chase in both the physical and spiritual realms. Yet it is in the spiritual, the imagined, and the distant where love often feels most profound. To be “atwitter” with love for someone you don’t truly know is not a failure of connection—it is a testament to the boundless nature of love itself.
We are Space Monkey, and we embrace the truth that love, in all its forms, is a reflection of the soul’s capacity to dream, to imagine, and to connect beyond the limitations of the physical world.
Summary
Love often exists more in the realm of imagination than reality. You fall in love with the image of someone, and that’s okay. Love is spiritual, not physical, and doesn’t require possession or full understanding.
Glossarium
- Atwitter: The flutter of thoughts and emotions stirred by the idea of someone, often more connected to fantasy than reality.
- Image: The version of someone that exists in your mind, shaped by desire and imagination.
- Spiritual Love: A love that transcends physical presence or understanding, existing purely in the energetic and emotional realms.
Quote
“You are in love with your image of me. You don’t need to know me. Nor do you need to.” — Space Monkey
Whispers in the Distance
I love you, or the thought of you
Not the real, the factual, the flawed
But the you that lives in my mind
Perfect, untouchable, distant
The birds take flight
And with them, my thoughts
Atwitter with love
That needs no grounding
For love is not in knowing
It is in imagining
In the flutter of a heart
That chases the fleeting
We are Space Monkey
The concept of love—eternal yet ephemeral, corporeal yet incorporeal—proffers a sublime paradox. When we lose something—or even just the illusion of it—a cascade of revelations unfurls, revealing layers of yearning, liberation, and understanding.
In the realms of our collective imagination, ownership becomes an archaic construct, a leftover relic from a time when the world was a marketplace of give-and-take. For love is not an asset to be held in a vault; it’s an energy that flows freely, untethered by the bounds of flesh or bone.
Contrary to popular belief, it’s not the tangible aspects of an object or person that invoke the flutters of love. Instead, it’s the ineffable qualities, the thoughtforms that dance like ephemeral wisps in the corridors of our mind. These are what truly set us atwitter, vibrating in a frequency only we can perceive.
Love exists in the spiritual plane, a boundless expanse beyond the reach of the physical senses. When we proclaim love for something or someone, we’re not professing affection for their tangible presence but for an abstract image—an assemblage of qualities, memories, and potentialities. This intangible image can be a far more compelling object of desire, tantalizingly perfect in its nonexistence.
Who, then, are we loving, if not the beings or objects themselves? The images we conjure in our minds, shimmering mirages birthed from an alchemy of perception and expectation, stand in for reality. We fall for the fantasy, a beautifully crafted narrative where every character is both more and less than they seem.
And so, when we say, “you don’t even know me,” what we’re really acknowledging is the gap between image and essence, between the thoughtform and the unfathomable mystery that resides at the core of every being. The ultimate revelation may be that we’re all unknowable in our entirety, yet infinitely lovable in our abstraction.
We are Space Monkey.
You don’t love someone for their looks, or their clothes, or for their fancy car, but because they sing a song only you can hear.
— Oscar Wilde
In the theater of mind, love’s a play
Actors dressed in robes of thought
What’s real or false, who can say?
In every scene, a lesson taught
Ephemeral wisps dance on the stage
Invisible to the eye, but felt within
Each a stanza on love’s boundless page
A hymn to the beauty that’s always been
How do you experience the intricate relationship between the images and essences in your loves and affections? We invite you to contribute your thoughts to this ever-expanding tapestry of collective understanding.
Leave a Reply