The intimacy of touch

*This is from a series of writings I did a few years ago now. I want to keep them here as evidence of my journey over time. Some threads have continued on and others have dropped away.

Touch has such power because we live inside the wonderful world of skin. Our skin is alive and breathing, always active and ever present. Human beings share such tenderness and fragility because we like not within shells, but within skin which is always sensitive to the force, touch and presence of the world.

- JOHN O’DONOHUE

I have always loved the idea that each one of us is a Walking Universe. As we move throughout the world we carry our hidden inner realms with us. Layer upon layer of depth and mystery is concealed behind a thin coating of skin.

What profound intimacy it is then, to touch another, to caress the exterior of their interior landscape and trace the boundary of their invisible depths.

As our bodies draw together, a most ancient and sensuous communion begins. Touch is the language of Universes as they meet through ‘living, breathing’ skin.