“I am my beloved’s, and my beloved’s mine.” ~ Song of Songs, 6:3
The photograph above, of me with our beautiful roses, is part of my collection of photography I offer in my Flower Shop. I’ve named this one The Bride Offers Herself, and so today, let us dive into the bride offering of herself to love and the entering of the spiritual union of love of the beloveds through the beautiful spiritual poetry text of the Song of Songs.
The Song of Songs, also known as the Song of Solomon, is a most beautiful poetic spiritual text, a declaration of love, an offering of love and an entering into the sacredness of spiritual union. The text offers us rich layers of depth, mysticism and spiritual meaning, and today we’ll dive into its love.
Many people are familiar with the phrase “I am my beloved’s, and my beloved’s mine,” as it is often used in wedding ceremonies, as it enters us into the devotion, vows, commitment and both spiritual and physical union of the two beloveds. The text, and this phrase itself also, refers not only to the union of two people, but also is often understood to mean and symbolize our union with Christ. The spiritual connection of love found throughout the poetic text can be between two people, as much as between God and soul, where our soul belongs to God and God is the soul’s beloved.
The poetic love of the Song of Songs also speaks of essentially our devotion and deepest of connections we may experience in life – which are those founded upon spiritual connection. Love is to see and be seen, not of flesh but through the flesh. And when two souls meet and kiss with the human lips, something even deeper binds them when it is a soul connection, a vow of souls, not just of human skins. Here we see how love is not merely a feeling, it is a becoming, a being; it is a profound movement and connection that also involves mutual belonging, trust and a shared life.
In the context of romantic love, or marriage, it emphasizes that when two people enter into a love with one another, it is to be treated with respect and fidelity as regardless of whether married or not, there is a vow here that is made, and you essentially enter the temple of God through your relationship. This is why marriage too is considered a sacrament, as it is an entering within the temple God.
In Vedic philosophy too, or even Vedic astrology, we see how marriage is related to the house of dharma and our spiritual path; because relationships essentially lead us to a deepening within. The higher purpose of relationships is connected to our higher dharmic path and our relationship to God. Some people find this without being in a romantic relationship, such as monks, but even if they are not in a “relationship” the way most people understand this, they still are in a relationship – a relationship to God.
So there is no such thing as being “single”, we all are at all times in a relationship. Depending on where we are on our path and what we need to yet have reflected to us or deepen into and learn and evolve, this is what kind of a relationship we may be experiencing. Nonetheless, we are always in a relationship; relationship to our body, relationship to our inner temple of God, relationship to the people we love and all others around us, and even our feet are in a relationship to the streets upon which we walk.
The Song of Songs, also called the Canticle of Canticles or the Song of Solomon, is a biblical poem, one of the five megillot (“scrolls”) in the Ketuvim (‘writings’), the last section of the Tanakh. Unlike most books in the Hebrew Bible, it does not focus on laws, covenants, or divine worship, but instead it is often referred to as erotic poetry, in which lovers express both passionate desire and spiritual devotion.
The Song of Songs is generally thought to have been written during King Solomon’s reign, which spanned approximately 970-931 BC. The exact date isn’t known, and the author isn’t known as well for certainty, though it is traditionally attributed to Solomon.
I am my Beloved’s
Today I’ll take you along, and deepen into, the three declarations of love as it related to the beloved.
The first declaration is seen in 2:16,
My beloved is mine, and I am his,
Next, in 6:3, we see the entering of spiritual union and full devotion,
I am my beloved’s, and my beloved is mine,
And the third declaration of love comes at 7:10,
I am my beloved’s, and his desire is toward me.
The three phrases are important to understand as they essentially portray the beautiful progression and blooming of the love and devotion between the beloveds.
In 2:16, the young to be bride to be enters the love during a somewhat springtime; what’s important to witness here is that she approaches the beloved from a sense of “I” and “he”. He is hers, and then, she is his.
Here, in the springtime of their love, the bride enters through her first confidence that the one she so passionately longed for has indeed become hers, and she his.
Through the phrase we also see her focus is no longer on him beings hers, but it is now I am his. It is now about belonging to him. This kind of deepest devotion gives her the most pleasure. This is why selflessness in true love is something that actually gives us pleasure, when it is true love of course. When we truly love someone and they us, and it is true and pure, giving to them and doing something good for them gives us joy. Don’t you feel joy when you give a gift to your family or child? This is joy spoken of here and the selflessness and belonging and devotion that she feels and is now a part of.
In this second phrase we see how she is now more interested in him and his needs, and that essentially what’s good for him would be good for her also because they are one.
The beautiful phrase 6:3 expresses a deep sense of belonging and mutual commitment, which is not only a declaration of love, union, and acceptance, but it has already entered the vows of the beloveds within the temple of God and the sacredness of true love. It beautifully shows the two individuals who are now intimately intertwined, with each belonging to the other and possessing a strong sense of shared identity – a oneness.
The mutual possession expressed within the phrase implies that both beloveds are not just in love, but also possess each other, both emotionally and spiritually; his heart is in her heart, and her heart is in his heart. Bone of bone, flesh of flesh, hearts as one, aligned to the spiritual path.
There is also mutual acceptance and belonging here, and love itself is a deep acceptance of another person and the freedom of each other while also being united in vows. There is an acceptance of each other’s individualities, while also a humility and devotion to the oneness based upon trust, loyalty and fidelity. There is an acceptance of the individualities, while also being fully integrated and merging into one another’s lives, thereby creating a feeling of belonging and completeness.
We also of course see the strong union of their love – which is why this is often a phrase used in wedding ceremonies today still – and the phrase emphasizes the humility and understanding of a deep and enduring union, where both individuals are inseparable and deeply connected. This is a vow not just made with human lips, it is a vow of souls. Both people are now intertwined and have become a unified whole.
From this union we now move to the third declaration of love seeing the transformation of the love – that we essentially become the love, become the desire itself. In 7:10 we now see the bride confessing and declaring with full heart of confidence and knowing that “I am my beloved’s, and his desire is toward me.”
This phrase further expresses the deep, mutual commitment and exclusive love within a relationship; it emphasizes a sense of belonging, security, and passionate longing, mirroring the intimate connection between the two beloveds, or whomever or whatever you are entering into a relationship with.
The dancer becomes the dance itself,
the poet the poem,
and the one being kissed or kissing becomes the kiss itself.
Desire has now become her. She first entered through desiring, and now, through devotion, she has transformed and become desire itself. Love becomes loving.
She has become the desire of her beloved; not merely his beloved, but she is the movement and embodiment for that love to move her along the paths of life and move within her and through her also.
There is mutual reciprocal love here now, and we’ve taken upon the heart’s vows and spiritual ethics of the higher path of integrity also. We also see that the bride is not only cherished by her beloved but she is also desired by him. She’s become his queen, his muse, his longing for her to become the movement of love.
Love is something that is meant to be embodied through our every day gestures, words and hands; and she has now realized that she was the desired one – which in Rumi’s words would echo what you seek is seeking you, and that we become the desire itself, the love itself.
In the context of spiritual union with God, this shows our higher purpose of learning to love more deeply and truly, and that while desire is something that moves us and pulls us forward, it is essentially about becoming the love and becoming the hands of love, words of love, movements and actions of love itself.
Devotion is the veil through which awareness shows its beautiful face. When we truly devote to something it will transform us, so that we become more loving, more kind, more open. Awareness may awaken our hearts, and our skins become soften, our heart more open, more generous and we come into greater union and expansion of self, beyond the boundaries of the known.
A commitment, a devotion, with trust, faith and integrity, is the path to what matters to us most deeply and what our hearts and souls seek. And if that’s the path we truly consciously choose to take, then naturally,
the dancer becomes the dance itself,
the poet the poem,
and the one kissing or being kissed becomes the kiss itself.
The lover becomes the loving.
Love’s destiny and deepest desire is to fulfill itself through us, and become us – to become our hands, our lips, our gestures, the kindness and patience of rhythm. This is God’s desire for us: to learn to love more truly and to love, giving love its verb, a movement within us and through us and of us.
We live in an age where it seems that unfortunately we’ve lost a lot of our human values and humanity. Things like casual dating, swiping faces on screens and treating one another with disrespect or humiliating people behind their backs and being completely ignorant of boundaries are quite normalized, and while none of these are part of my personal life nor actions, I do want to inspire all of us through my work here to awaken ourselves into the remembering that we should honour and respect one another. Human hearts are fragile and as human beings we are capable of causing so much hurt and pain on one another, and these can go quite deep on spiritual and emotional and energetic levels also.
Entering into a relationship with someone is a sacred thing, because essentially we hold someone’s heart. When someone opens up to you they trust you and it’s our responsibility to hold this trust and heart in sacredness. There is a temple of God within each person; and for some it may be a sleeping God, for others awakened, but nonetheless may we serve to bring light through our wisdom and actions.
The phrase in 6:3 shows your own values, your own conscious decision and devotion towards the temple of God and walking a life of truth and love. It’s not about others, it’s about you and awakening your divine gift of free will, which is essentially our ability to consciously choose to make life more conscious and take conscious decisions. Knowing our own values and what we align to is very important, because this is what becomes our moral compass and what and whom you’ll be choosing to engage with.
If you choose to no longer be with someone, whether friend or partner or colleague, that’s perfectly fine, but try to move away with peace in your mind and heart. Perhaps reflect with gratitude on what you may have learned from that person or interaction or situation; each relationship serves some purpose for our deepening and self knowledge and growth. Sometimes the lesson is to respect ourselves and not allow someone to treat us unfairly, and through that person or situation we’ve learned to strengthen our boundaries, respect ourselves more and moved away; that’s a valuable lesson indeed. We each have a sacred responsibility to ourselves, to this life we’ve been given to be born and breathe, and to not allow people to treat us unfairly. We can only meet another as deeply as we’ve met ourselves, so self love and know thyself are first always.
And if you are already someone walking your true path, valuing the sanctity of love and intimacy and relationship, then you need to wait to someone who may match you on that level also. I know it’s hard to find someone on that same kind of resonance, values, virtues, and emotional awareness, but trust that who’s meant for you will find you.
There are clocks beyond the hands of our clocks, unclockable, unstrikeable by us, and there it’s about perfect divine timing, If you feel the true desire of heart for love and to share your life with someone, it’s most probably because he is there for you calling and praying for you just as much. Trust the timing of your life, trust the unfolding of your path, and stay true to your higher virtues.
What I love about “I am my beloved’s, and my beloved’s mine” is that this is not merely a vow for the beloveds when they meet, but it goes beyond that and before that time of meeting. It reminds us of the ancient spiritual truths that you are already one with the beloved, even before you meet here in the physical. Hearts know the truths that our minds may not yet. But when two worlds meet and touch, we’ll see that love wasn’t just felt and known in our heart, it is known by our hands also.
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Cover photography by me of me and our beautiful wild roses.
For more of my writings, browse through my Art of Love.
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