I do have my share of misgivings about Paul but this is where his brilliance shines
He expands upon love in a way that still feels modern that’s not only whistful but useful
And the image of a soot covered mirror, window or focusing lens that barely functions — it works in all three cases — gets clearer and clearer ever so slowly over a long period of time as one receives grace / enacts love / however one views the transformative process — remains a favorite of mine as well.
being extremely nearsighted with the world but a blur, this passage, as a child, was very tangible.
in particular, one eye has retinopathy of prematurity in which there is no central focus.
so no matter how much lenses are put on it – even if it gets “sharp” technically, it will never work as a proper eye.
but where this passage adds to it, is the eye also sees things slightly darker – as if there’s a dark TV snow across the field
so as a child I would switch back-and-forth between the eyes, imagining what it might be like if one day the worse eye just “worked”, and both eyes suddenly could see everything sharply, which even the better eye can’t do even with glasses.
and yet I was always grateful to have the vision that I did so it wasn’t a complaint but rather an amazing idea that was almost unfathomable.
to see, no longer dimly, whether a mirror or lens or window but not only see but experience face to face (no more glasses or anything in the way like mirror or window) – it was something visceral and all the benefits gained from that carry forward through time.
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