Henri Nouwen once wrote about some trapeze artists who became his friends, emphasising the perfect synchronicity between them and the total trust that the one who jumps has when he lets go of the trapeze and remains in the air for a second, waiting to be caught by his teammate. But what if, at the last moment, when it is too late to hold on to the trapeze, he realises, looking into the eyes of his teammate, that he has no intention of catching him? With a few nuances, this must be the feeling of the person who discovers that he or she has been betrayed—the shock of falling into the void without a safety net, because the other person has moved, net and all, to another emotional address.
When all direction is gone—how to survive adultery
