Too many contradictory signals:
beauty and brutality;
food and excess;
nature and branding;
human tenderness and human insanity;
all arriving at once.
Maybe this is the central human ache:
the realization that embodiment gives us ecstasy and heartbreak through the very same doorway.
You cannot have
warm animal fur;
saltwater on skin;
the scent of paklan blossoms;
laughter until your stomach hurts;
holding another trembling human being;
music vibrating through the chest;
wind on a mountain ridge;
the ache of beauty at dusk—
without also becoming vulnerable to
grief;
loss;
fear;
violence;
aging;
confusion;
attachment;
and the unbearable knowledge that everything changes.
The emotional body that allows awe
also experiences anguish.