“This is the true joy in life, the being used for a purpose recognized by yourself as a mighty one; the being thoroughly worn out before you are thrown on the scrap heap; the being a force of Nature instead of a feverish selfish little clod of ailments and grievances complaining that the world will not devote itself to making you happy.

I am of the opinion that my life belongs to the community, and as long as I live, it is my privilege to do for it whatever I can. I want to be thoroughly used up when I die, for the harder I work, the more I live. Life is no ‘brief candle’ to me. It ia a sort of splendid torch which I have got hold of for a moment, and I want to make it burn as brightly as possible before handing it on to the future generations.” ~ 

George Bernard Shaw

Quoted by a participant at the Unitarian Cafe Connect. It brought me to tears as it resonated so much with how I feel about my life, it belongs to the community, whatever that community is. 

1 Corinthians 13

If I speak in the tongues[a] of men or of angels, but do not have love, I am only a resounding gong or a clanging cymbal. 2 If I have the gift of prophecy and can fathom all mysteries and all knowledge, and if I have a faith that can move mountains, but do not have love, I am nothing. 3 If I give all I possess to the poor and give over my body to hardship that I may boast,[b] but do not have love, I gain nothing.

4 Love is patient, love is kind. It does not envy, it does not boast, it is not proud. 5 It does not dishonor others, it is not self-seeking, it is not easily angered, it keeps no record of wrongs.6 Love does not delight in evil but rejoices with the truth. 7 It always protects, always trusts, always hopes, always perseveres.

8 Love never fails. But where there are prophecies, they will cease; where there are tongues,they will be stilled; where there is knowledge, it will pass away. 9 For we know in part and we prophesy in part, 10 but when completeness comes, what is in part disappears. 11 When I was a child, I talked like a child, I thought like a child, I reasoned like a child. When I became a man, I put the ways of childhood behind me. 12 For now we see only a reflection as in a mirror; then we shall see face to face. Now I know in part; then I shall know fully, even as I am fully known.

13 And now these three remain: faith, hope and love. But the greatest of these is love.

The thing is
to love life
to love it even when you have no
stomach for it, when everything you've held
dear crumbles like burnt paper in your hands
and your throat is filled with the silt of it.
When grief sits with you so heavily
its like heat, tropical, moist
thickening the air it's so heavy like water
more fit for gills than lungs.
When grief weights you like your own flesh,
only more of it, an obesity of grief.
How long can our body stand this? you think,
and yet you hold life like a face between your palms,
a plan face, with no charming smile
or twinkle in her eye,
and you say, yes, I will take you
I will love you, again.

Ellen Bass

As you learn to give to others in service, it opens your heart and keeps it open. The more love you give openly and joyously the more love pours forth from you and the more love draws to you. The more love you give, the more you will receive. It is the law. Never be discouraged if love does not return to you immediately. Simply know that sooner or later it will be, so keep the love flowing because love never takes 'no' as an answer.

Opening the Doors Within.

"To be a man is, precisely, to be responsible. It is to feel shame at the sight of what seems to be unmerited misery. It is to take pride in a victory won by one's comrades. It is to fell, when setting one's stone, that one is contributing to the building of the world."

Wind, Sand and Stars

From the note Seongyhe gave me upon leaving Brighton.