AST
2007-12-05 13:57:13
Years ago, I read a book titled Human Intimacy by Victor L. Brown, Jr. He made the point that real intimacy is more than sex or infatuation, and only comes over time as we live with each other and learn to lower our everyday masks.
He writes that two things are required: risk and commitment. Risk, because we take take risk of being hurt when we lower our defenses and reveal our real selves to our partner. Commitment, because we will inevitably suffer some pain in the process of revealing our hearts and, assuming the other person is not a psychopath or abusive, but a person also seeking intimacy in good faith, we must be willing to keep trying and learning about each other.
