In 1989, the British band Depeche Mode launched their Violator album. On that album is a song titled “Personal Jesus.” But what inspired them to write the song Personal Jesus? The song was written by Martin Gore, who later explained in 1990 to Spin magazine that the lyrics were actually based on the autobiography “Elvis And Me” by Priscilla Presley.
In relationships between men and women of any age, there are several stages that are transversed – for my word monger friends, I know there is no D at the end of Transverse, but for this writing, we’re using it – most of the time, without the two people that are involved even knowing that they are in the process of traversing these stages.
Anybody having been in a relationship can testify to the fact that there is the excitement of meeting, the excitement of exchanging phone numbers, the first official date and then you transverse into the “I love you” stage. One person shocks the other by saying “I love you,” although the other person has been waiting for it, it’s still that little shock that triggers the endorphins in the mind, triggering an extreme happiness, much like that of your favorite dance song that comes on the radio.
As you progress through the next stage of figuring out what each other is like, what they like, daily habits, what food each other like, music and so on. You know the list if you’ve been in a relationship.
I could go on about all of the stages and the psychological effects of each, but for brevity of this writing, we’re going to move on to something else that most people don’t think about.
What if the relationship is a Long Distance Relationship (LDR)? How do does the mind – endorphins – deal with not being able to be with the other person when the “I love you” is said? For most, the same excitement is still there when the two people decide that they want to date and make it an official “thing,” announcing it to the world.
There can be many kinds of LDR, a musician that is always on the road traveling from town-to-town for shows and doesn’t have the option of coming home. A truck driver that is in his/her truck for 6 to 8 weeks at a time, leaving the other person at home to tend with everything home related.
The other – and most notable – is a long distance relationship with a person that is on the other side of the world! I personally know several couples that have gone through or are currently going through this, including myself. How do the two people – and their endorphins – handle this type of relationship?
I am reminded of the song “What is Love,” as a testament of faith and resilience as the only way a relationship like this could possible hold itself together. I am also reminded of the word “Trust, Devotion, and a dozen others” as much as Priscilla Presley would have had to consider Elvis Presley as a “Personal Jesus”.
How do couples in this kind of arrangement find out what the other person is really like? How do they spend time together to see first hand how the other sleeps at night, eats, the list, as you know, goes on. For now, they don’t!
Elvis Presley was a mentor, a confidant to Priscilla. He was also always on the road, going from show-to-show to entertain his fans that also thought he was a personal Jesus to them. Spending five minutes on YouTube, anyone can see that his fans – very much like the Beatles – would throw themselves in front of him as if to say “rescue me”.
In many parts of the world, there are people wishing, hoping, praying for a personal Jesus, not knowing that is what they are praying for or what is involved once their personal Jesus comes into their lives. On the other side of the coin is the receiving person that does not know that he or she is going – or supposed – to be a personal Jesus to the other and they too have no idea of how to be this personal Jesus.
In closing, I can only advise anyone that is thinking about or is now involved with a Long Distance Relationship to be very strong in thought and in actions to have an intense amount of faith and be very open to insecurity from both people.
While the song Personal Jesus was written by Depeche Mode, I decided to use the version produced by Johnny Cash as it is a tamer video.