Risking Agony for the Ecstasy of Love

I recently read an article in Philosophy Now magazine called Ecstasy Through Self-Destruction, by Danelle Gallo.   Through the works of a French philosopher (Georges Bataille) and a French painter (Yves Klien), Ms. Gallo's essay espouses that ecstasy is achieved by stripping ourselves down to the void of pure experience.  To me this sounds like the state of bliss I experience during meditation, when I reduce myself to a breathing entity, devoid of noisy thoughts, left with the ecstasy of simply being.

Falling in love also seems to involve degrees of self-destruction.  Isn't it true we sacrifice a part of ourselves when we fall madly in love?  Talk about risking agony!  What if you have to sacrifice too much of yourself to maintain the relationship?  What if your love goes unrequited?  All that self-sacrificing for nothing!  And yet many singer/songwriters have found beauty even in this sort of sad void.

I nearly fell off my barstool when I read the last two sentences of Danelle's article because it depicted my novel so succinctly:

"The potential for ecstasy justifies embarking on an agonizing journey.  One thing is certain: we are nothing if we do not try."

Whoa!  To me, this couldn't be more true and sums up a life well lived.  I bet there are those of you who disagree, maybe too badly burnt at one time or another in your quest for ecstasy.  But what about the cliche, "It's better to have loved and lost than to never have loved at all"?  Perhaps it depends on the degree of agony we experience when in pursuit of ecstasy.  In the end, we are nothing if we don't try.  Wait a minute!  Isn't "nothing" a type of void?  Apparently, not all voids lead to ecstasy; not trying is the only way to lose for sure.