It’s always been interesting to me how in some religions the priests, nuns, monks, etc. are forbidden from entering into romantic relationships. You could argue that it makes sense for purely practical reasons. Who has time to devote to prayer, service, studying and preaching when diapers need to be changed and little bodies and mouths and ears and hands and hearts need constant tending to? But there’s another element of distraction. It’s so much easier to worship a flesh-and-blood being than it is to worship a being whose existence we can never be entirely sure of. How can God compete day-in and day-out with the allure of your lover’s scent? Even the most devoted theist would get worn down eventually. We are spiritual beings here for a physical experience after all.
In AA we have a common piece of advice given to people in their first year of recovery (to avoid getting involved in new romantic relationships) that is predicated on the same idea – that it’s even harder to get a handle on what God means to you when you just can’t get your new honey’s adorable laugh out of your head.
But what does this all really boil down to? What instinct is fulfilled by both God and new beau? It’s the instinct to worship. We feel at our most content when we are in awe of God’s handiwork – when we are beholding the majesty of the stars in the night sky or the perceived perfection of the object of our desire. Why would it feel so good to feel small and weak in this way? Because it reminds us that we’re part of something infinitely greater than ourselves and that just being alive is an adventure.
Lil Prisca 