A More Perfect Union

Approached as a spiritual practice, a committed relationship can be a path not only to enduring love and deep harmony but also to liberation.

By Tara Brach

The Levines consider such devotion to be the very essence of spiritual relationship, the quality that allows a relationship to become a mystical union. In their book, they write: "It begins with one being meeting another in love. It deepens and expands until the loved one becomes, in our heart, the Beloved....This union is not with another but with the mystery itself, with our boundaryless, essential nature."

By recognizing the Beloved in the other person and ourselves, we open into the sacred space of mystical communion. This liberating realization of our shared essence is the sweetest fruit of the yoga of relationship. We are no longer loving our partner or receiving love, we are love. Through the purity of our intention and attention, we have released the river of our separateness into the radiant and edgeless ocean of Being.

Tara Brach is a clinical psychologist and the author of Radical Acceptance: Embracing Your Life with the Heart of a Buddha. She has taught extensively on the application of Buddhist teachings to emotional healing and teaches Buddhist meditation throughout North America.

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