I am currently re-reading bell hooks' book "All About Love". Let me start by saying that, from the moment I opened "Ain't I A Woman" in college, I have been in love with bell hooks, or at least, in love with her words. Whether about race and feminism, education, or aesthetics, her writing satisfies me completely. Many years ago, I had the opportunity to hear her read...it was truly a spiritual experience. Her voice is calm and comforting, yet so powerful, the perfect match for her words. They fulfill me on both an intellectual and spiritual level.
So, "All About Love" is a book that everyone should read, point blank. It examines love in all of its facets: romantic, spiritual, familial, communal...reading this book again, at this point in my life, three things stand out for me:
...that the deep fulfillment I feel in making theater in community is, in fact, an expression of love. I have recently admitted to myself that I am in love with my work. Theater is communion, it is a deep and lasting love affair.
...that I am more spiritual than I used to believe, that my desire to find spirituality in nature has helped and soothed me, that I see theater as my church, and that I am seeking a conscious practice that is, in some way, an expression of my own faith.
...that I am always in the process of developing self-love, and part of that process is keeping in close, intimate touch with my own personal truth, and being fully who I am.
Thank you, bell hooks, for sharing your thoughts on this incredibly important topic...we all need to spend more time thinking about how to love more.
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