"The constant presence of the beloved, even though space may separate a couple by thousands of miles, or time by eternity itself after death, is not readily diminished. The beloved's presence is too strongly felt; it is too much a part of one; it is too deep in the air we breathe and the mind we reflect with to be forgotten. In this sense (Gabriel) Marcel is accurate when he declares that a beloved bestows immortality on another by his love: To say "I love you" is to say "You shall never die." Love is mystery opening up to mystery. No wonder its token is most regularly the granting and encouraging of freedom unto another: the freedom to be his or her own mystery and to live this mystery, loving it."

--Matthew Fox ("On Becoming a Musical, Mystical Bear")

(a page opened at random yesterday from this book on my bookshelf that I've never read but I thought looked interesting. It's a nice thought for the new year, don't you think?).