Obsession.LOVE CAN BE MISDIRECTED. If we choose, we can fix our hearts unavailingly. Narcissus Narcissus, in the Bible Narcissus (närsĭs`əs), in the New Testament, Roman whose household was partly Christian. Narcissus, in Roman history Narcissus, d. A.D. fell in love with himself. He pined to death, longing for a response that of its nature could not come: It was his own reflection he was courting. Echo fell in love with him, despite the evidence that he had no eyes for anyone but himself. She faded to a voice on the breeze, and he to a flower. As Poussin shows it, she is already dematerializing, unable or unwilling to accept reality. Beautiful Narcissus is visibly losing strength as he yearns for the self he sees in the waters. Poussin makes no judgment, but he reveals both as passive. True love (Cupid with his torch) lingers regretfully in the background. Love itself is alive and active. SISTER WENDY BECKETT of Norfolk, England, well-known for her BBC BBC in full British Broadcasting Corp. Publicly financed broadcasting system in Britain. A private company at its founding in 1922, it was replaced by a public corporation under royal charter in 1927. and PBS PBS in full Public Broadcasting Service Private, nonprofit U.S. corporation of public television stations. PBS provides its member stations, which are supported by public funds and private contributions rather than by commercials, with educational, cultural, television art series and her popular art books. Reprinted with permission from: Sister Wendy's Book of Meditations (DK Publishing, 1998; 877-342-5357). Painting: Echo and Narcissus Echo and Narcissus was a poem written by the Roman poet Ovid as part of his monumental work Metamorphoses. It combines two ancient legends: Echo, the wood-nymph, and Narcissus, a hunter who falls in love with his own reflection. , Nicolas Poussin (c. 1628-30, Musee du Louvre Louvre (l  `vrə), foremost French museum of art, located in Paris. The building was a royal fortress and palace built by Philip II in the late 12th cent. , Paris).
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