Appointment: The Rattlesnake

I was sitting here drinking coffee this morning and I started to think of the lyrics “she says all she needs is therapy yeah all you need is, love is all you need…. She says ooh, It’s so hard to love when love was your great disappointment.” These lyrics come from a Llyod Cole song titled Rattlesnakes, however, I was thinking of Tori Amos’s cover on Strange Little Girls. Thinking of these lyrics I remembered what Sri Swami Satchidananda said about making appointments. He said, “Take an example. ‘Ohhh, I am so disappointed.’ Use the same prefix. Dis-appointed. Why? You made an appointment….Your disappointment, you made earlier, so only your appointment got dis-ed.”

“…love was your great disappointment.”

Love was your appointment that got dis-ed. As I am writing this I am thinking, “We can’t give up on love.” So how do we love without disappointment? I want to look at this a little closer.

To be disappointed, as Swami Satchidananda, is to make an appointment that got dis-ed. If we look at ’appointment’ we will find that it is an act of appointing, and appointing is to assign a job or role to someone. In other words we might appoint someone to love us, by saying, “I want you to love me”.. And if the other says, “No. I can’t love you. I love someone else,” our appointment will be dis-ed.

So perhaps we can take love out of the mix here and simply say: appointment was the great disappointment.

This reminds me of a story in the New Testament. The apostles were arguing about who was the greatest. James and John asked Jesus who would be at his right and left during the Eternal Age. Jesus replies, “If anyone wants to be first, he must be the very last, and servant of all.” He later replies, “You've observed how godless rulers throw their weight around," he said, "and when people get a little power how quickly it goes to their heads…. Whoever wants to be great must become a servant, and you whoever wants to be first must be a slave to all.” The apostles wanted to be appointed by Jesus, however, they became disappointed. They wanted to be appointed by Jesus to love one of them more than another. But that is not what Jesus was offering. It is clear that Jesus’ intention was to serve and love all, but not in exchange for power or authority given by man. I believe Jesus wanted us to live as he did, and be fueled by God to love and serve others.

So how do we love without disappointment? We love without making appointments. We do not appoint or wait for an other to come love us. We love others, and in that love we will find love. And if you are concerned with the notion that if you love others, then who will love you? As Jesus said, “Take courage!”

Peace be with you.