This painting on the wall of Emerald Temple, Bangkok narrates a scene from "Hikayat Ramayana"... King Janak had a beautiful daughter called Sita. Like every princess in hikayats, she should marry a good, brave and strong man so the test is for the potential suitor to lift and bend a very, very heavy bow.
Prince Rama fell in love with Sita and as he bent the bow to fasten the string to it, the bow snapped in two! He won the bride...
If you've been around the block awhile, you'd sense that Christians have a 'bow' test as well.
From BGR seminars, we get the ideal that the single man or woman must be so serene and complete in the Lord that he or she practically hovers above the floor, oblivious to 'distractions' before qualified to enter a relationship. You must be non-chalant, must not give any hint of being perturbed by desires (even if you are!)
If you are right with God, you'd have an infallible matchmaker and your relationship never be anything but happy ever after.
The irony is, I think, if we ever reach that stage, it probably means we have the gift of celibacy. Others have resorted to a kind of stoic denial.
The "Bridget Jones Diary" series of postings, I hope, hint at an alternative, that we can be honest with our misadventures, laugh at ourselves and realise that desire itself is not the enemy... Desire directed at the right person, at the right time, to the right degree is a very good gift.
Posted by Hedonese
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