Sufjan Stevens Quotes RuPaul, Jesus in Loving Day Essay
Care

Sufjan Stevens Quotes RuPaul, Jesus in Loving Day Essay

Following up his pair of songs for Pride, benefitting homeless LGBTQ youth, indie folk savant Sufjan Stevens has penned an essay for Loving Day. Loving Day is a national holiday held on June 12, celebrating the the anniversary of the 1967 United States Supreme Court decision Loving v. Virginia which struck down the country's remaining anti-miscegenation laws.

The essay is all about love. What else? Writing on the topic, Stevens opens the essay with quotes from two divine figures: RuPaul and Jesus, about the relationship between love for ourselves, and others.

"RuPaul says: "If you can't love yourself, how the hell you gonna love somebody else?" Jesus said: "Love your neighbor as yourself." Both suggest that self-love is what makes us human: you cannot love others without loving yourself. Which also means that we must cultivate love as a private and personal practice before we can extend love to others"

Like most of Sujan's albums, it's a blend of philosophy, theology and poetry — and it's very beautiful. At one point, he poses the theory that self-loathing and shame are at the root of most evil in the world, proposing love as a way to break this pattern.

"This is our calling as well: to be human again. To have awareness without shame, we must undo everything the world has told us about our worth. We must go back to the beginning. We must be born again. We must be, and know, and love ourselves."

It ends with the unoriginal, by abidingly moving and relevant idea that, "To love without compromise and without equivocation" is a duty.

"My head is full of questions but my heart is full of love!" he signs off, "XO, Sufjan."

Happy loving day, read it here.

Photo via Getty