Passion is the spark of excitement we feel when we stand on the edge of the unknown. It arises at the boundary where two different worlds rub up against each other-male and female, self and other, inner and outer, familiar patterns and uncharted possibilities.

As D. H. Lawrence put it, "What is the beloved? She is that which I am not." In one of his poems Lawrence conveys this impassioned sense of wonder:  I put out my hand in the night, one night, and my hand touched that which was verily not me... it was the unknown...The other, she has strange green eyes! And land that beats with a pulse! Also she...has strange-mounded breasts and strange sheer slopes, and white levels...I touched her flank and knew I was carried... over to the new world...  When we fall in love, a new world opens up. Leaping across the boundary of self and other, the spark of passion "lights up the night," providing sudden glimpses of mystery and depth. Passion is an intense quality of energized presence that puts us in touch with the fullness and richness of being alive. We can fall in love in little ways at any moment. Suddenly something or someone takes our breath away. We feel an expansive or fluttery sensation in our chest.

And we taste what it is like to be fully present, if only for a fleeting instant. This can happen upon waking to a fine spring morning, with the sunlight filtering through the new greenery, upon suddenly catching a glimpse of the open sea after long travelling, or when the ripe, pungent earth fills our senses on a crisp autumn afternoon. I have found, at times of heightened perception, such as on meditation re- treats or in groups of people who are communicating deeply, that it is not hard to fall in love several times a day; that is, to keep finding myself deeply moved not only by the people there, but also by the landscape, the sounds of the forest, the moon at night, or the changing patterns of wind, light, clouds, and rain. Although this vividness of perception may seem special, it is also quite ordinary .If it be magic, it is ordinary magic, because it is only a keener awareness of what is already there. Though we cannot hold on to such moments, they leave us with a sense of what life could be like if we could live more often at this thresh- old of vivid presence.