The Essence of Love with Nicole Daedone

I specialize in following it where not many dare to tread. I want to know life biblically, the way a man knows a woman (or other configurations of such). I want to know the water by getting wet. Theory, commandments, concepts leave me empty, and not the good kind of emptiness. My driving question is, “Is that true?” Is it wholly true? Where and how is it true? For whom is it true and why? Can it withstand the test of time? Is it true for me as a woman? The last one has taken me off many a beaten path. Givens are often no longer givens when I ask this question. The world turns upside down. My two guiding principles are first, the idea that “I’ve come only for this.” Whatever is presented before me is mine to puzzle, to play, to explore and, finally, to love. Love leads me to my second guiding principle, how I explore, which is to ask, “Can I love this? Can I love even this?” Who is the “I” who is loving in this moment? What does love look like here? Does it require a peaceful approach, approval, power, some good, old-fashioned wrath? And then, what is “this?” I must leave who I believe myself to be to answer this question—to know and love what this is on its terms and not on mine. As a free woman I want all things to be free, liberated from any ideas I would impose on them. My work remains what it once and always was: to turn poison into medicine and make it available to those who want it.