αγάπη means love and love means intimacy.


Intimacy is something of a personal or private nature: nudity, remote beaches, being close to your pregnant friend in her daily life, little moments of sun on your skin, wind in your hair, and salt on your mouth. Intimacy is the ability to notice, to listen, to observe.

αγάπη is one kind of love - an empathic, universal one. It is love for another human being, for the world, for the smaller and more fragile creatures, but also for the grandiose nature, for its magic, vast seas, intricate rock formations. As Kae Tempest reminded me, "empathy is remembering that everybody has a story. Multiple stories." It is the ability to put your own story aside and make space to listen to others. They also made me realize that creativity is an act of love. By putting your energy into someone or into something, regardless of how small and insignificant it might seem, to create is to care, and to care is to love. We need that. We need creativity, intimacy, empathy, and love. Now, more than ever.

In times when the killing of innocent civilians in Palestine, Congo, and Sudan is orchestrated by cold-blooded and power-hungry politicians who aim to strengthen divisions and fuel hate, when silence means guilt and complicity, when we sometimes close our eyes to be able to carry on, when our souls are filled with resentment, fears, and rage, I struggle to see hope, and I struggle to love. Then I remind myself that what was will never be again, and what is will pass, and we need to keep our eyes open for one another, for signs of αγάπη.

Then again, I am just a dust particle on the surface of time and space.