speed

Always toward absent lovers love's tide stronger flows.

~sextus propertius, 54 b.c. - 15 a.d

i recently read an article on a research project called 'the love study'. in short, participants in the study were married couples and the point was to determine if positive thought, good energy, prayer or whatever you want to call it from one partner, at a distance, could affect change on the other partner. and if so, would training, practice and motivation of the sender affect the effect.

the test seemed to be pretty well executed. the subjects were in separate rooms, unable to view each other. the sender would see a closed-circuit tv image of their partner at random intervals, for random lengths of time, and during those times they were instructed to send 'loving, compassionate intention' to their spouse. both people were hooked up to electrodes and monitoring stuff to check for skin temp rise, heart rate, etc.

and in short, the receivers did in fact show signs of their sympathetic nervous system being stimulated. within half a second of sending the energy the recipients' skin temp began to rise, perspiration increased, blood flow increased, etc.

half a second.

speed of sound. speed of light. lightning?
speed of thought. good vibes?

speed of love.

palpable loving energy can be felt from a distance. the love study says so. (and three dozen other studies conducted by institutions such as university of washington and university of edinburgh) and the beach boys.

...I'm picking up good vibrations
She's giving me excitations
Good good good good vibrations...

~Good Vibrations by the beach boys, 1966

actually from the mid 20's b.c. to 1966, romantics; such as poet sextus propertius and the beach boys band; have proclaimed the power of love from afar. so i am in long standing company with my duh to this research.

instead of revelation, i prefer to find this study as justification to my obsession.

d: compassionate intention sent to my pounding headache.
b: i didn't need these studies to know the power of good vibrations.
g: the speed of love is lightning fast.