Something In Her Was Violently Sensual, Alive, Earthy.

Something in her was violently sensual, alive, earthy.

Anaïs Nin, Delta of Venus

Anaïs Nin, from Incest - The Unexpurgated Diary of Anaïs Nin (1932-1934)

The human is not hidden beneath the divine, as though the divine were sometimes choking, sometimes caressing, sometimes heeding, and sometimes rejecting the human. The divine takes place in the human, in its entire flesh, in its precarious wholeness.

Sister Ivone Gebara, Mary, Mother of God, Mother of the Poor (1987)

"Sometimes while I ride the subway I try to look at each person and imagine what they look like to someone who is totally in love with them. I think everyone has had someone look at them that way, whether it was a lover, or a parent, or a friend, whether they know it or not. It's a wonderful thing, to look at someone to whom I would never be attracted and think about what looking at them feels like to someone who is devouring every part of their image, who has invisible strings that are connected to this person tied to every part of their body. I think this fun pastime is a way of cultivating compassion. It feels good to think about people that way, and to use that part of my mind that I think is traditionally reserved for a tiny portion of people I'll meet in my life to appreciate the general public. I wish I thought about people like this more often. I think it's the opposite of what our culture teaches us to do. We prefer to pick people apart to find their flaws. Cultivating these feelings of love or appreciation for random people, and even for people I don't like, makes me a more forgiving and appreciative person toward myself and people I love. Also, it's just a really excellent pastime."

— Dean Spade, from his essay For Lovers and Fighters

saw this gorgeous, tall burly beef cake of a man on my morning commute to advising and as I hurried to the bottom of the hill I watched him scourge around for a cigarette (his only visual vice) and pull one out, pop it in his mouth and head on his way.

I’ve been day dreaming about him all day. He was so ruggedly handsome and large in stature. I really like tall, towering men.